Rukawa's Revenge
by Kumagoro Meowzaki 2
Summary: FINALE! Rukawa vs Sendoh in the silliest challenge ever. Final chapter up!
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Slam Dunk

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is, again, for the Ortiz sisters, Kristine Joyce and May Angelica, and to my best friend, Rochelle Paras. To all those who will review, good or bad, thanks in advance! May the power of lemon be splashed upon you all!

* * *

Rukawa's Revenge by Kumagoro Meowzaki

* * *

Rukawa Kaede lay in his bed, silently contemplating the series of unfortunate and unexpected events that made him cancel his well-planned trip to America. He was furious and angry and frustrated and disappointed that such a small event could make him drop all his plans and not go to America, but his years of putting on a cold demeanor taught him not to lose his head even over the biggest matters.

Still, he felt as if he should do something about it.

Someone was in the way.

Sendoh Akira.

Rukawa sighed, his brows furrowed. He would probably be packing right now if Sendoh had not challenged him to a one- on-one, if he had not accepted, if he had not lost.

That's just it...he would have won that one-on-one if he hadn't hesitated to shoot the ball at that perfect moment. The timing, the positions...everything was so precise and he was gonna shoot...he was gonna win...

Then Sendoh smiled.

Damn his stupid smile! Why did he have to smile like that? It wasn't his usual conceited grin...more like...AAAARGH! Rukawa closed his eyes and turned to his side. He couldn't find a word to describe Sendoh's smile as it looked then, but it sure made his heart go doki doki...

And the ball bounce out of the ring.

Rukawa pursed his lips. He can't go to America like this. He still wasn't the best player in all of Japan. And damn, he lost his concentration over a smile! A stupid smile, for Pete's sake!

And that was not all.

Sendoh seemed to beat him in everything. Looks, talents, brains, basketball. There's got to be some...activity he could outdo Sendoh in.

For minutes, Rukawa was lost in thought, his blue eyes like a computer scanning for data, his head lowered and his brows drawn together.

Then in an instant, his head snapped up and the light returned to his eyes. A look of determination passed his face, just like he did in basketball. But there was something else.

A deadly smirk played on his lips.

* * *

Sendoh Akira, for the fifth time, tripped over his own feet.

Baka, he thought, bending over and checking his shoelaces which were tied securely. Won't hurt to be sure though, he mused, retying his shoes.

Since he got out of the house, Sendoh had been losing his footing for averagely every ten minutes. He had seriously considered having his knees, legs, and ankles checked, but he doubted there was anything wrong with them.

Because he had been sneezing too, and he didn't have a cold or anything. Two sneezes at a time. Actually, he thought, if he had been eating, he would have choked.

He took it was not a good omen.

He checked the skies for a sign of bad things to come, but the sun still flashed a smile even brighter than his. The clouds still rolled lazily as the wind tickled their sides.

Shrugging, he went on his way, a smile pasted on his face. It was just a coincidence, a superstition. He certainly won't let a superstition ruin a perfectly good day.

thud

Sendoh fell face-first onto the concrete, earning himself unwanted glances from the people around him. He smiled, shrugged, and got on his feet.

* * *

"So...what you're trying to say is that...you want ME, the Tensai, Sakuragi Hanamichi...to help you defeat Sendoh...in an activity other than basketball?"

Rukawa nodded.

Sakuragi turned red.

Then purple.

Then his mouth full of food opened and he let out a huge tensai laugh.

Rukawa ducked to avoid the bits of partially digested food that flew out of the redhead's mouth. Yuck...

"What makes you think I'd help you, Kitsune?" Sakuragi asked, shoving more food into his mouth, his chopsticks clicking very fast.

The raven-haired boy raised an eyebrow and calmly replied, "If you help me beat Sendoh, you'd be beating Sendoh too. Technically."

Sakuragi gasped in fake surprise. "Wow, Kitsune, I didn't know you speak that much."

Rukawa took a sip of his own drink. "That is not my point."

"Well, what is?"

Long, slender fingers interlaced as a devilish little smirk passed across Rukawa's lips.

"Revenge."


	2. Before the First Task

AUTHOR'S NOTES: OK, first task is near! I'm currently experiencing writer's block and because this is the only non-coughcough among my works, I got a lot of help from Jo-chan, Checat, and even my little sis in making choices in the flow of the plot. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

DISCLAIMER: Dun own Slam Dunk.

* * *

Before the First Task: Ready Steady Go!

* * *

Sendoh had laughed his ass off upon seeing the 'invitation' given to him by Hikoichi Aida. And for the 6th time that day, he pulled it out of his pocket and laughed his ass off. Or what was left of it since he had laughed it off five times prior.

Seeing the crude caveman doodles and the roughly-written, bold, and bloody assortment of what seemed like a code on the face of the perfectly unwrinkled card made Sendoh think that it was a ransom note from an alien who had seen the color red for the first time in its life, but upon closer inspection, he unearthed the well-encoded words ("Oh, they were words!") that surfaced from the mess that was currently making his eyes hurt from the mere redness of it.

He realized that it was a drawing of a person, the face contorted with anger (complete with the vein popping on the temple and the large, seemingly-vulgar mouth), one hand on its hip and the other pointing a finger that mirrored the anger on the face. Underneath, in barely legible handwriting, was "I CHALLENGE YOU!".

Inside, to Sendoh's surprise, was a message that was a big improvement to the cover, but in normal standards was still not so legible. However, due to the absence of scarlet, this was WAAAY less eye-straining and WAAAAY more readable.

Sendoh Akira, it ran, I challenge you to a man-to-man duel. Come to my house at No. XX, YY Street at noon the day after you receive this note. Further details will be disclosed. NO BALLS. Signed, Rukawa Kaede. (AUTHOR: Rukawa Kaede's address will be concealed for privacy reasons. Sorry for the inconvenience.)

At the back of the card, again in red, but now tiny handwriting was Art by Sakuragi Hanamichi.

For the 6th time that day, Sendoh laughed his ass off. Oh, I already said that. Author mutters her apologies.

The spiky-haired boy knew well why Rukawa had challenged him. He knew that Rukawa can't stand being beaten in basketball. Especially if his trip to America was at stake. So he attacks Sendoh from where he couldn't be detected. In other words, Rukawa had finally realized that he could never beat Sendoh in basketball so he challenged Sendoh in a sport apart from basketball. Actually, that 'NO BALLS' comment had at first given him a different and more cough hentai cough impression.

Clever.

So, again, the trip depended on this new challenge.

Sendoh sat back on the comfortable couch and smiled. He must beat Rukawa, if it was the last thing he would do.

* * *

"Uh...hi!"

Rukawa felt an unusually large vein pop out of his head. Here was Sendoh, thirty-four minutes late, apparently without an excuse, saying, "Hi". What's he supposed to do, be happy that Sendoh had at least shown up after he, Rukawa, had given up all shreds of hope that he, Sendoh, will come?

Absolutely!

Not.

A gust of wind blew.

A cat meowed.

Sendoh sweatdropped.

Rukawa was still deciding whether he'd be pissed or happy.

Another gust of wind blew.

Another cat meowed.

Sendoh was getting tired of smiling.

Rukawa decided to be pissed, since it was the most logically normal thing to do. He would never admit that he was happy, although part of him went doki doki again when he found Sendoh standing on his doorstep and grinning stupidly.

"Come in," he said, not as coldly as he had intended, but cold enough to be Rukawa.

"DON'T TALK SHIT," Rukawa whispered to Sakuragi, instantly clamping the redhead's mouth shut before he could 'comment' on Sendoh's tardiness.

The rules to the "Rukawa vs. Sendoh Ultimate Challenge" were simple: there would be a total of 11 games and each player has equal chances of choosing the tasks and venue. The games will be decided by drawing lots. The Impartial Judge, Sakuragi, will put in two of his own tasks in the lot and host the Mystery Challenge, which is the eleventh and last task. The player who wins the most number of games wins.

"Why is Sakuragi the Impartial Judge?" Sendoh asked.

Rukawa shrugged. "He hates us both."

Sendoh nodded in understanding. "Oh," he said.

"What's in store for...the winner?" asked Sendoh. He was careful not to say, "me". He already knew that Rukawa would be going to America. But...what if HE won?

Rukawa panicked, but didn't show it. Rukawa hadn't considered that. He was focused on revenge and automatically assumed that Sendoh would lose. His plan wasn't foolproof after all.

Sakuragi didn't care. He was just picking his nose and being distracting. He was there not to support Rukawa but watch as his two enemies kill each other off. Not literally, of course, but he did wish that it was.

Sendoh, with much amusement, could see Rukawa's distress. "I have an idea," he announced, instantly getting his attention. "What about the loser does one thing that the winner asks?"

Rukawa nodded. All the more better. "Good."

Sendoh laughed. "Great!"

Sakuragi slyly chuckled. Either way, he'd definitely LOOOOVE to see one of them lose.

The two raven-haired boys each took four slips of paper from the table. There were two pens, a blue one and a purple one. Rukawa reached for the blue pen but found his hand above Sendoh's. He glared at Sendoh and made a grab for the purple pen, but found his hand below Sendoh's. Both boys pulled their respective hands away quickly, as if they'd just touched something extremely hot.

Sendoh grinned sheepishly. "Eh...you go first, Rukawa-kun."

Rukawa snorted and took the blue pen. His heart was beating very fast, his palm was sweating and his muscles were all tensed. His face remained as calm as ever. No, he was not nervous although he felt a sharp tingle in his spine when he touched Sendoh's hand.

Oooooookaaaaaay. Stop. None of that in my head, Rukawa said to himself, mentally applying liquid eraser to those thoughts. He just put his mind to writing down the tasks he was good in.

The lone redhead watched as the two boys glanced thoughtfully at various parts of the room as they tried to come up with tasks. After careful observation, he could predict when Sendoh and Rukawa had thought of tasks: Sendoh would smile at nothing and write carelessly while Rukawa would shrug and write furiously.

Suddenly, they found their gazes at each other, blue meeting blue in a wistful stare. Sendoh smiled at Rukawa, a smile that was returned with a cold glare. They held their gazes for a while, until Rukawa suddenly looked as if he had a fantastic idea for a task and continued writing down.

But truth be told, he was squirming in Sendoh's cheerful stare.

Sakuragi yawned. He had finished with his tasks and was just waiting for the other two to finish. He mentally chuckled as he cough fantasized cough about the reaction of the two duelists when they find out what Sakuragi has in store for those two. Yes, Sakuragi had a lot of things in store for them. Especially with the last task. Boy, he was going to enjoy this.

At this point, you might be wondering if this fic should be entitled "Sakuragi's Revenge".

Finally, the two boys handed their carefully folded slips to Sakuragi who stretched and yawned first before putting the paper slips into a bag.

Rukawa glared at Sendoh challengingly.

Sendoh gladly accepted the challenge with a smile.

Sakuragi wordlessly shook the bag and took out a random slip of paper.

The two challengers' breaths hitched as Sakuragi, in an agonizingly slow motion, opened the slip.

"Hehe," Sakuragi chuckled, reading the contents of the paper. He knew that he, the Tensai, would be in charge of everything after that. "Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe... NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" he laughed, imagining how the competition would go.

Rukawa sighed and glared at him as if he wanted to say, "Quit it, ahou, and just read the damn piece of paper or bash your stupid face in." Sakuragi, as much as he wanted to annoy Rukawa more, just shut up and coughed.

"The first task is from Rukawa. Bike racing at ZZ Bike Shop. Friday's good?" (AUTHOR: The name of the bike shop will be concealed for privacy reasons. Tough luck, Rukawa and Sendoh fans. :P)

Rukawa smirked and nodded. He had the upper hand on that one.

Sendoh was in silent agreement with Rukawa. Sure, bikes are common Japanese methods of transportation, but he was not one of those people who rode bicycles. But never mind, he thought, smirking. I'll catch up easily in the other tasks. He thought of the tasks he wrote down on his slips and snickered to himself when he imagined Rukawa in those situations.

Rukawa and Sendoh exchanged stares once more.

I'll beat you, Sendoh, and fly away from here. Finally.

You won't beat me, Rukawa. I sure as hell won't let you leave.

That's right, kill each other off and make my life easier. Ore wa tensai! Nyahahahahahahahaha!

To Be Continued...

Peace.


	3. The First Task

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hmmm...this is the first task! Yoshi! Just for the record, my sisters and I really did draw lots to decide the order of the tasks. Sorry if the chapters are too short. I'll try to make them longer. Big thankies to all the reviews, you really make me smile!

Sendoh wanted to beat Rukawa just for the hang of it. Just to, you know, aggravate situations. At first.

Anyway, regarding this chappie, I forgot to put the time. So, since they still have school here...they'll be playing after practice hours...let's say...five o'clock. And some characters might be a little OOC. I think. Especially Sakuragi. I think.

DISCLAIMER: Two words: I wish.

* * *

The First Task: The Race is On!

* * *

Rukawa woke up Friday morning with a smile on his face.

Oh, who are we kidding? It's Rukawa we're talking about woke up Friday morning with his usual frown on his perfectly unwrinkled face, thanks to years of keeping a poker face. It was around four in the morning, but the phone was letting out it's annoying ring, cutting precious sleep hours. Rukawa sighed and reached for the phone. "What?" he said, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.

"Ohayo, Rukawa-kun!" came the familiar voice on the line. Rukawa knew who this was, and though he went a bit dokidoki again at the sound of that voice, he still was quite pissed because he had disturbed him. Good thing the telephone's still in one piece.

"Sendoh," he acknowledged flatly.

"Sorry to disturb you, but I have a big problem. I don't know where the bike shop is and I forgot to tell you that," he said sheepishly. "Er, is it OK if you pick me up?"

Without thinking, he said, "Aa," and slammed down the phone. Just to throw Sendoh off and get more sleep.

He curled up, about to re-enter the welcoming gates of LaLaLand. He felt great; he was going to pick Sendoh up, go with him to the bike shop, shove Sendoh's face into dirt and kick his perfectly-shaped ass with his ultimate biking skills.

Yes, it was the perfect plan.

Wait...

Rukawa sat up, pupils reduced to two barely-seen points. WHAT THE HELL?!

He realized he had made two big mistakes. One: PICK SENDOH UP?! Two: PERFECTLY-SHAPED ASS?!

He groaned to express his displeasure, but sleep was tugging at his eyelids and so he dropped back to bed with one last thought.

Whatever.

* * *

When Sendoh went down for breakfast Friday morning, the smile he was wearing was wider than usual. No one could see anyway but if someone did, that someone would surely be freaked out. It was a really scary grin, but happy nonetheless. Well, happier than usual, and that made it really scary.

He shouldn't be feeling happy at all today. He was going to be beaten by Rukawa in their first task just because he had not taken time to learn biking. But he had taken his share of triumph when he pissed Rukawa when he called at four am and successfully persuaded Rukawa to pick him up. That was enough consolation prize for him.

Although now he wasn't sure if he had done that just to annoy Rukawa or...

Never mind.

* * *

"IYAAAA!!!!"

That was Sakuragi's greeting to the marvelous Friday morning.

Well, that would probably be a suitable greeting if he woke up because somebody was kicking his back rather violently. Or shouting in his ear. Or shaking him by the neck. And the morning would not be marvelous.

Thing is, none of the above was happening to him. But still, his morning was not marvelous.

"Stupid dream," he muttered and slowly got out of bed. He dreamt about Rukawa and Haruko getting together and he didn't want to think about it. I'm sure YOU don't want to think about it either. I sure as hell don't. Ick.

Breakfast was not really great, owing to the fact that our dear redhead woke up pissed. He didn't even finish his milk and pancakes. His mother had left for work, and he knew he should be leaving for school himself, but it was too damn early, no thanks to his stupid dream.

He couldn't go back to bed because he was too awake to do so, so he decided to prepare for school. Maybe he could practice at the gym while it was still early. If Rukawa was there, he could pack a nice punch on his face. Stupid invader of private thoughts, he said to himself, remembering the nightmare he just had. He couldn't believe that Rukawa was that nasty to even poke his stupid foxy head into his dream.

So much for gratitude. After I had helped him and all.

When Sakuragi arrived at school that morning, he went straight to the gym. Sure enough, he found Rukawa there. And Akagi, Mitsui, Kogure, Miyagi and Ayako. They all turned their eyes on him, slightly surprised at his punctuality. Well, he wasn't supposed to be there at all so they were surprised alright.

"Somebody woke up at the wrong side of the bed this morning," commented Mitsui, seeing the grumpy look on the redhead's face.

"Long night?" Miyagi asked.

"More like a short one," replied Sakuragi. Speaking of which...

He strode towards Rukawa, who was practicing alone in his half of the court. Taking the boy by surprise, he punched the pale boy's cheek hard. "That's for this morning, asshole."

A big drop of sweatdrop ran down Akagi's, Mitsui's, Kogure's, Miyagi's and Ayako's heads.

Good morning to you too, thought Rukawa, touching his sore cheek. What the hell did I do now? At least he didn't get a stupid phone call at 4 am. He punched Sakuragi harder and quickly threw the ball into the ring. This time there was no stupid Sendoh smile to prevent the ball from going in. If Rukawa was a normal person, he would've stuck out his tongue at Hanamichi, but being Rukawa he could only manage a snort.

A vein ticked off Sakuragi's head. "TEMEEEEEE!"

And so, the usual Sakuragi-Rukawa Freestyle Fighting Match (sponsored by the Anything Goes Martial Arts Dojo) went off again.

The school bell rang. Akagi, Mitsui, Kogure, Miyagi, and Ayako went out of the gym, leaving two freshmen obliviously fighting.

* * *

Mitsui stared at Rukawa's and Sakuragi's retreating backs, surprised that the two were actually together without hurting each other. Sure, the cheeky grin on Sakuragi's face was there and Rukawa had his normal expression, but there was something quite different about those two. Well, for one, they shouldn't be hanging out together. Especially not after this morning. Plus, during practice, there was less bickering between the two. They sat beside each other during breaks, Sakuragi teasing Rukawa and bragging about his tensai skills and Rukawa retorting with his snort. Sakuragi would either say, "TEMEEEE!!" or "KITSUNEEEEE!!", and would exchange one or two punches with Rukawa, but nothing more.

And Mitsui heard a couple of unusual remarks from Sakuragi. Like, "Oi, Kitsune, you should really save your energy for later." Or "Where are we going afterwards?" Rukawa would again ignore his comments.

But Mitsui couldn't.

The scar-faced senior approached Kogure and whispered into his ear, "Am I missing something here or what?" Mitsui pointed towards the two freshmen.

The Sakuragi Gundan walked towards Sakuragi. And Rukawa.

"Oi, Hanamichi!" Youhei called out. "Let's go try some pachinko. Noma got us some fake ID's and some disguises." The rest of the Gundan chuckled mischievously. Rukawa walked on.

Sakuragi let out a loud sheepish laugh. "Sorry, guys, I'll pass," he said, scratching his head. Seeing Rukawa some distance away, he quickly waved goodbye to his friends and sprinted away. "Oi, Kitsune! Wait up!"

Mitsui's jaw dropped. So did Kogure's. Miyagi, who was watching the rather peculiar scene, hopped over to Mitsui and Kogure. "What's up with those two?" he asked, getting shrugs for replies.

"I don't know, you tell me," Mitsui dazedly answered.

* * *

Outside the Ryonan campus, a certain spiky-haired boy stood waiting for a certain someone. Many passers-by greeted him and asked him what he was doing there, but he just replied with his smile. He looked at his watch and sighed, seeing that it was still quite early.

Meanwhile, some meters from the Shohoku campus, Rukawa and Sakuragi went towards the bike shop, Sakuragi walking while Rukawa was biking. They were miraculously quiet, each in his own daydream. Sakuragi was thinking of a hundred ways Rukawa could beat Sendoh. So far, he had only thought of 17. Rukawa was looking forward to beating Sendoh to a pulp in this challenge.

Suddenly, Rukawa skidded to a halt, realizing something. "Kuso," he muttered under his breath.

Sakuragi quickly turned his head. "Nani yo?"

Rukawa was already turning in another direction. "You go ahead, I forgot something. I'll see you there." Before Sakuragi could say, "Temeeeeeeeeeee," Rukawa was already off.

And so, Sakuragi marched off to the meeting place singing his infamous Tensai Song.

* * *

"You see?"

"Sakuragi and Rukawa walking home together?"

"Yeah. What, are they friends now or something?"

"Maybe they're just studying for an exam or something."

"TOGETHER?!"

"OK, but it is possible."

Miyagi and Mitsui looked at Kogure. "Hell, no!" they cried together. Or at least what they could manage to avoid being heard. Their throats were becoming itchy already.

"Shit! Rukawa's heading this way!"

"Quick, hide!"

They flattened themselves against the wall beside a post and hoped that Rukawa would not look back and see them. Thankfully, he didn't, and the three of them breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when he had cycled past.

"Wait...now who are we gonna follow?"

"You just have to ruin the moment, huh?"

* * *

The sun is setting in the sky. Teletubbies, say goodbye.

Oh, sorry, wrong line.

Sendoh watched as a particular figure cycled towards him. Rukawa's silhouette was against the setting sun, making him look like some hero or something. Sendoh chuckled as a very random thought of Rukawa in shining armor carrying Princess Akira Sendoh bridal style sprang in his spiky head.

Rukawa's heart was racing faster than his bike as a tall figure with spiky hair came into view. He could barely make out the smile on his face. He was thinking of what to say to Sendoh when they finally come face to face, but finally decided on just shutting up. Everyone was used to that anyway, it wouldn't look strange.

But seeing the stupid smile on his face made him say, "Baka" instead. He mentally whacked himself for that.

Sendoh sweatdropped. "Ehehe...gomen, Rukawa-kun."

Rukawa wordlessly turned his bike around and cycled the way he came. Sendoh walked after him, silently humming to himself.

A party of three was secretly following the two, arguing among themselves and trying to piece together the strange events.

"There really is something wrong here."

"Sou yo."

"Maybe it is a plot by Taoka-sensei to get Rukawa to enroll in Ryonan."

"Impossible."

"Rukawa didn't just pick Sendoh up, did he?"

"Are you blind or something?"

"No, he's just too short to see."

"Wow, Kogure, I didn't know you were capable of making an insult."

"Sorry."

* * *

Rukawa was getting uncomfortable by the second. He could feel eyes boring at his back and he couldn't help but look back in annoyance. He was going to say some rude remark to Sendoh, but he held it when he saw Sendoh looking at his bike longingly.

Or was he looking at his ass?

Rukawa mentally whacked himself again.

Sendoh was looking at Rukawa's bike with a rather frustrated look on his face. He remembered that as a child, he was not able to learn to ride a bicycle. He was preoccupied with other things, and he didn't need to bike to go places. He was used to walking or taking the bus or the train.

Rukawa sighed. Sometimes, Sendoh had that effect on him. It was so unnerving. Like right now, he felt he should offer Sendoh a practice ride on his bike. He looked so pitiful right now, and sure of his doom that Rukawa took pity. He decided to lend Sendoh his bike on the way there because he thought it was too easy and victory would be a bit more sweeter if Sendoh at least knew how to bike a bit. Sendoh would still end up as a loser anyway, so it didn't really count.

He stopped and got off, surprising Sendoh a little. Not losing his calm, Rukawa sighed and said, "Want to try?"

Sendoh was more than a little taken aback at Rukawa's display of hospitality that he just stood there for a few seconds, doing a reality check. "Yeah, sure," he replied. "Thanks."

The second Sendoh got on the bike, he went off-balance and tried to put one foot down to break his fall, but it somehow got stuck.

Thank goodness, Rukawa caught him.

Mitsui, Kogure, and Miyagi blinked.

Rukawa almost pushed Sendoh away, seeing the embarrassing situation they were in. But he thought it would be too cruel, so he just straightened the bike (with Sendoh on it) gently.

Sendoh laughed at himself, finding his stupidity funny. Rukawa also fought the urge to laugh. The scene was interesting. Imagine, a towering, well-built, 17-year-old guy riding a bike for the first time. Rukawa was human; he found it funny too. But unlike most humans, he didn't smile nor laugh. He just...stared.

"Put your weight evenly," instructed the freshman, still holding the bike to help Sendoh balance himself. He silently pushed the bike while Sendoh pedaled. In the beginning, Sendoh was still losing balance and falling, but his feet and Rukawa were there to catch him. After a few tries, he gradually got the hang of it and was pedaling faster and straighter now. Rukawa noted the change in the weight and speed. "I'm going to let go now," he said, removing his hands on the bike handles and the seat.

Sendoh was slightly wobbly at first, but he gained balance soon enough. Without really meaning to, Rukawa felt pleased with himself and Sendoh. He felt like it was a big accomplishment to teach Sendoh to bike.

"I don't think we should've followed them. Now I'm more confused than ever."

"Maybe we should've asked them straight out instead on skulking around and stalking them. It would've been a lot easier and quicker, you know."

"Ask Rukawa? Bad idea, Kogure."

"It's really strange. Sakuragi and Rukawa walking out of school together, Rukawa picking Sendoh up, Rukawa teaching Sendoh to bike. It's so freaky!"

"Where are they going, anyway?"

"That's why we're following them, Miyagi."

"Look, there's Sakuragi!"

"What? Where?"

"Try to locate the sound of the voice."

Sakuragi was yelling obscenities when he spotted Sendoh riding Rukawa's bike. What the hell? I don't understand the stupid kitsune. First, he plots revenge against Sendoh and gets the upper hand on the first task and now, he's lending his bike to Sendoh? What in the whole world am I doing here, anyway? "What the hell took you so damn long? Oi, get your freaking butts down here right now! Jeez! Slowpokes! Come on, I'm so hungry! Damn you, Kitsune, you're treating me for this, you hear? Faster!"

"What? Now Sakuragi is favoring Rukawa over Sendoh?"

"There's nothing wrong with that. They're teammates after all."

"Yeah, but Sakuragi always cheered for Sendoh."

"My head is aching."

"Mine too."

"Let's keep watching, shall we?"

Rukawa sighed. Why the hell would I treat you to dinner? He picked up a stone and threw it at the loudmouth redhead and hit his head. "Do'ahou." Oh, joy.

"ITAI! Temeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Wait till I get my hands on you!!!"

Sendoh thoughtfully smiled as he watched Rukawa and Sakuragi engaged in yet another brawl.

"Really, my head hurts."

"I thinks Rukawa's does too."

Sakuragi let out another tensai cackle. "See, I told you I can take care of this on my own! Nyahahahahahahahahaha! The owner even let us use the biking park for tonight! I told him—"

"Cut the crap, ahou," said Rukawa, feeling his patience slowly trickle down to almost nothing.

"Notice something? Rukawa's saying more than one word today."

"Yeah."

"It was more than, 'Do'ahou,' or 'Aa,' or 'Baka'."

Kogure laughed. "That's a nice Rukawa impression, Hisashi-kun."

"Thanks."

"OK, OK! Sheesh, Rukawa, why so impatient?" Sakuragi coughed importantly again and continued. "Twenty laps around the park, first one to finish wins," he said. The rules were plain and simple, no crap whatsoever. Truth is, Sakuragi couldn't think of crap to twist the rules of the race.

Rukawa and Sendoh got to their places, each with a bike. Sendoh rented a bike to use and Rukawa used his own. Sendoh was feeling a little more hopeful and Rukawa was sleeping.

Rukawa was sleeping. Yeah, he heard Sakuragi's signal to go and raced away, but he was asleep.

Sendoh looked on in amazement as Rukawa pedaled around the bike park asleep. He smiled and followed Rukawa around the park.

Sakuragi rolled his eyes. "What a show-off," he muttered to himself.

Sendoh kept on dabbing at turns, since he still didn't know how to turn properly.

And lo, a much more amazing sight met their eyes.

Rukawa did a back 180 (1) off a quarterpipe and back into track.

Five male jaws dropped.

"Whoa."

"Sugoii."

"That was...so fucking cool."

"Watch your language."

Rukawa was pulling off Xgames tricks like can-can (2), flatspins, nose wheelies, flips and stuff like that. Asleep. Sendoh stopped biking altogether to watch. Sakuragi lost count of the laps. Miyagi's, Mitsui's, and Kogure's headaches ceased temporarily to gape at Rukawa.

Five males were in a reverie.

Sakuragi was the first to recover. "Kitsune! Wake up!"

Said fox woke up in the middle of a 360. Thankfully, he landed and avoided a serious wipeout. Er, crash.

"What a show-off," Sakuragi repeated. But he too was flabbergasted at Rukawa's show earlier on. Who wouldn't?

Naturally, Rukawa won. So why devote a whole chapter writing about it?

Stupid writer.

* * *

(1) Back 180 – according to the EXPN BMX Glossary, a back flip with a 180 (half-rotation). Cool trick.

(2) Can-can – still from the EXPN BMX Glossary, rider takes one foot off a pedal and stretches their leg over the frame between his legs so both legs are on the same side of the bike, then returns the foot to the pedal before landing.

Come to think of it, all of my definitions are from the EXPN BMX Glossary.


	4. The Second Task

AUTHOR'S NOTES: On with the show! I'll try to post as many chappies as I possibly can as soon as possible, but I can't promise anything. Thanks for reading and reviewing!   
  
Here's the real author's notes: for some reason I made Sendoh a cheeky boy who liked to annoy Rukawa for the heck of it. I have no idea why. And Sakuragi suddenly became a confused idiot who didn't know what he wanted. Or did. Well, he pretty much is like that. Pretty much. And the three sempai very nosy old ladies. Sorry, I lost my brain on the way home from the hospital. And I'm not very good at humor.  
  
DISCLAIMER: If I keep writing disclaimers for every chapter, I'd run out of things to say. Slam Dunk is not mine, it is Takehiko Inoue-sama's. Got that? Good. I won't say it again. eats butabara  
  
The Second Task: Finding Nemo   
  
It was a very beautiful Saturday morning, and three prominent figures were currently being ogled at by the staff of a local restaurant in Kanagawa. One was extremely pale, one had spiky, gravity-defying hair and the last had bright red hair.  
  
By now, you should know which threesome it is.  
  
"OK," said Sakuragi very loudly, further catching the attention of the people. "Ready?"  
  
Rukawa and Sendoh nodded.  
  
Sakuragi grinned and put his hand into the bag. He took out one slip of paper and slowly read its contents. "Hehe, Sendoh, you have a chance to make up for the last task," he said, his grin growing wider and cheekier. "Fishing. Tomorrow, 9 o'clock. It's so friggin hot if we do it later."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Ne, Hisashi, Ryota, I really think we should ask them."  
  
"No! I will ponder this."  
  
"But we know neither root nor end of this."  
  
"That's why we have to figure it out."  
  
"Can I have some more coffee?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Watch it, Miyagi. Coffee hinders growth."  
  
"What do you mean by that?"  
  
Kogure sweatdropped. "Please stop this."  
  
"So...what do we do?"  
  
"You want some ice cream?"  
  
Rukawa sighed. Sendoh was being nice to him. And he could not believe that he, Rukawa, had actually agreed to go with him after their meeting with Sakuragi.  
  
His life had utterly turned upside-down during the past couple of weeks. He was having decent conversations with his greatest rivals. He was hanging out with a dunderhead that was Sakuragi without even throwing one punch. OK, so they still did fight and tease each other sometimes, but it has lessened. Considerably. Sakuragi's loquaciousness was highly contagious and he could barely stop himself from talking too much. Especially now that his contact with Sakuragi and Sendoh had just increased.  
  
Fishing, eh? I've gone fishing a few times before. I'm gonna beat Sendoh no matter what it takes.  
  
Sendoh walked back to him carrying two ice cream cones. "I bought assorted, if that's OK with you," he said, beaming and giving Rukawa one colorful ice cream cone. Rukawa hesitated for a split-second, but took it when he saw Sendoh's expectant look. He could almost blush. Almost.  
  
They were in the commercial area and this hot Saturday afternoon, there was a crowd in the mall. Exactly what Rukawa wanted right now.  
  
You understand sarcasm, don't you? Good.  
  
There seemed to be a concentration of female population where they were walking. He cringed at the sticky glances they threw at him and his companion and was annoyed with their stupid giggles. A lot of them bumped him on purpose just to touch him and a couple even copped a feel! He jumped from his skin and frantically looked for the culprits, but they were gone. With frantically, I mean the definition from the Rukawa Dictionary of Everyday Terms How Icemen Use Them. He was almost squirming in discomfort and Sendoh was still oblivious to his condition.  
  
He doesn't blame him. After all, he didn't show his embarrassment at all. He still had that indifferent expression on his face. But the girls were really getting to his nerves. He could barely finish his ice cream. He will not, because he knew that those girls had already licked it more than once while he was not looking in hopes of having contact with his DNA. Fangirl saliva, ick.  
  
Thank goodness he was finally out of there!  
  
Note to self: never go to crowded mall ever again. Not without burly security guards. And crotch protectors. Yuck.  
  
Somebody tapped his left shoulder and he was about to say something really rude when he saw that it was only Sendoh. "Daijoubu? You walked so fast."  
  
In Rukawa's head, there were quite a few things he wanted to say. No, I'm not OK. Being cramped into a very small space on a hot day doesn't make me OK. Suffocating while you are obliviously and happily eating your stupid ice cream cone doesn't make me OK. Being chased by a mall-full of rabid, giggling, flirtatious fangirls doesn't make me OK. Being with you doesn't make me OK.  
  
Being with you makes me happy.  
  
Rukawa froze. He didn't just think that. Being with Sendoh annoys him. A whole friggin lot. It does not make him happy whatsoever.  
  
No. He hates Sendoh.  
  
With all my heart.  
  
"I thought you were my friends! How could you do this to me?! Megane! Untie me, right this instant! You're all getting it when I get out of here!!"  
  
Smoke was puffing out of Sakuragi's nose and ears as he yelled furiously at his teammates, who were towering over him. He was tied down to a chair and as expected he was thrashing wildly in his bonds.  
  
"Tell us what you're doing with Rukawa first, then we untie you," said Mitsui.  
  
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I already told you I can't!"  
  
"Then you stay there. No bathroom breaks. No food. No Haruko."  
  
"TEME!!" The redhead's teeth were gritted and his fists were clenching. But seeing the looks on his sempai-tachi's faces, he finally sighed resignedly and relaxed. Why was he protecting that stupid kitsune anyway? "OK, I'll tell you."  
  
Mitsui and Miyagi exchanged high-fives.  
  
And Sakuragi spilled the beans.  
  
Kogure looked out the window thoughtfully. "Revenge, eh? I think there's something more to this than revenge. What do you think, Hisashi, Ryota?"  
  
The two shrugged.  
  
Kogure sighed. Sakuragi was still struggling vainly at his bonds. Then Mitsui smirked and said, with a hint of mischief in his voice, "You don't mind us watching, do you?"  
  
"Just let go of me!" shrieked Sakuragi.  
  
It was getting late in the afternoon, but thank goodness the heat was less now. Rukawa swore that his skin had just gone one shade darker. He still hadn't spoken more than 10 words all afternoon and realized that so did Sendoh.  
  
And the devil suddenly chose to speak right at that moment. "You're not bad, after all."  
  
"What?"  
  
Sendoh chuckled. "I thought you were boring to be with because you don't talk much. But I actually had fun today."  
  
Rukawa snorted. It was the most unexpected comment that he heard from Sendoh. It felt...nice.  
  
"You too."  
  
Three boys tossed and turned in their sleep. Two boys stayed up plotting something while their companion slept soundly in his sleeping bag.  
  
Rukawa pondered the events that day. /You too./ He buried his head into his pillow trying to forget the memory of that afternoon with Sendoh. He didn't know what spirit possessed him and made him say that. Nevertheless, it was the stupidest thing I ever said in my whole life! ARGH! I HATE YOU SENDOH!!!!  
  
But somehow that sounded more like a lie.  
  
Sakuragi was sweating. The most impossible thing in the world had just happened: Sakuragi was thinking very hard. He was very bothered at Mitsui, Miyagi and even Kogure's attitude. He was secretly regretting that he told them about the challenge. He was afraid Rukawa would kill him. But not if I kill him first. Jeez, why am I even worrying that Rukawa will kill me?  
  
Sendoh was also thinking about Rukawa that night. Somehow, he found those thoughts very disturbing, especially because they came from Rukawa. He even swore he saw a hint of a smile there, or was it just his imagination? But it is possible. If Rukawa could say I'm not bad, then it's possible that he could smile. He's human after all.  
  
Meanwhile, at Mitsui's house was the greatest slumber party ever imagined. You still remembered the thing I said about sarcasm?  
  
Kogure was peacefully in the arms of slumber. Miyagi and Mitsui were scheming something, but I can't tell you that right now because they'd kill me. All I can say is that they're trying to prove Kogure's theory that Rukawa did it for more than revenge.  
  
"But what for? Love?"  
  
"That's sick."  
  
"Maybe Rukawa's homo."  
  
"That's even more sick."  
  
"It's not strange!"  
  
"Yeah, but it's sick."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Mitsui, can't your brain process more logical stuff right now?"  
  
"No, because it's too friggin tired to function properly. And since when did you use words like 'process' or 'logical'?"  
  
"Since you came up with the stupid and not to mention outrageous idea of Rukawa being gay."  
  
"I told you, it's not strange."  
  
"And my using of 'process' and 'logical' is?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Mitsui!"  
  
Ha  
  
Sunday morning was greeted by the welcoming song of the birds, the breeze, the morning people...  
  
And the shrill ringing of the alarm clock by Rukawa's bed.  
  
The said boy groaned, buried his face into his pillow, and groped around for the alarm clock on his bedside table.  
  
Since when did he have an alarm clock?  
  
He immediately shot out of bed and guess what greeted his sight.  
  
"Ohayo, Rukawa-kun."  
  
Sendoh got up promptly before dawn with a very wide and sparkly grin on his face. Today was the big day, because today, he'd be beating Rukawa at their task. And once again, he will have his fun annoying Rukawa.  
  
He quickly went through his morning routine and got out of the house before the sun has risen. A brown paper bag was in his hand and an impish grin on his face. A lot of, er, interesting thoughts crossed his mind then, none of which I will reveal because if I did, I'd have to up the rating of this fic. Let's just say...it's nosebleed material.  
  
His feet finally took him to a familiar place. This is the part where I have to spoil your imagination. Yes, it was Rukawa's house. Sendoh climbed the wall stealthily and tiptoed to the house, opened one window on the side and sneaked in. He wanted to laugh, very much, at his success in sneaking into Rukawa's house unnoticed, but doing so would wake the Shohoku ace and get him kicked out. Up, up he went where he assumed Rukawa's bedroom was.  
  
And he was right.  
  
Doesn't Rukawa even lock his bedroom door? How careless.  
  
Carefully and silently, he got the alarm clock from the paper bag and placed it on Rukawa's bedside table. He smiled as he saw the framed picture of the Shohoku basketball team and what he guessed was Rukawa's family picture. He looked exactly the same on both pictures that Sendoh wondered if it was just computer-edited.  
  
Judging from Rukawa's snores, he seemed to be sleeping very deeply. I wonder what he's dreaming about, Sendoh thought. Kawaii, noted Sendoh, noticing Rukawa's sleeping face. Rukawa looked relaxed and peaceful...almost happy while he slept. His half-open lips, his closed eyes, smooth forehead and soft hair falling about his face painted a cherubic picture to one's mind. It was very different from what he looked like when he was sleeping outside his bedroom. That one looked as if he was just feigning sleep to ignore the people around him.  
  
Sendoh was absorbed in watching Rukawa's sleeping form. He marveled at every twitch of the muscle, at every tightening of the eyelids, at every movement of his body. He was deeply mesmerized with Rukawa...  
  
The sun was slowly rising and thin rays of sunlight were peeping through the curtains, illuminating Rukawa's angelic body. Awed, Sendoh slowly reached out his hand, pushed by the desire to touch Rukawa's face...  
  
But drew his hand back quickly as the piercing ring of the alarm clock commenced and spoiled the moment. Sendoh sighed in relief and watched in amusement as the sleeping boy groaned in frustration and buried his head into his pillow. A long pale hand shot out and slammed itself on the bedside table, feeling around for the thing that disturbed his slumber.  
  
Rukawa shot out of bed, his foxy blue eyes wide as platters and his breath short and shallow.  
  
Sendoh beamed. "Ohayo, Rukawa-kun."  
  
Rukawa's mind blanked. Just as if the inner Rukawa had thrown an extra-large iceberg into Hell, instantly extinguishing its leaping fires. The only thing it was capable of doing right now is instructing Rukawa's arm to get the scandalous alarm clock and throw it at Sendoh's face.  
  
Bull's-eye.  
  
"Ohayo!"  
  
Kogure stretched out of his sleeping bag and cheerfully greeted his companions. But said companions were sprawled on the floor, snoring loudly and drooling on the mat. Kogure laughed quietly, seeing Miyagi's head resting on Mitsui's chest. Those two must have slept at three or so. He dressed and went down to make breakfast for the three of them.  
  
Rukawa smirked triumphantly upon seeing the alarm clock hit Sendoh's face, sending the spiky-haired disturber of peace into the realm of unconsciousness. Honestly, he thought that it was more the revenge he could ever dream of. For Sendoh's prank, that is.  
  
He crawled over to the edge of the bed and smirked at Sendoh's unconscious form. With one hand he reached for the alarm clock and threw it into the trash bin. He took another look at Sendoh and stuck out his tongue (be-da!).  
  
Baka.  
  
He climbed out of bed, and not bothering to dress nor fix his bed, he went down for breakfast, clad only in his boxers.  
  
Forty-six minutes and 18 seconds later, Sendoh woke up from his state of unconsciousness, feeling a little depressed that his plan to annoy Rukawa backfired. He rubbed his head where he supposed the alarm clock hit him and felt a little bump. He frowned.  
  
After checking if Rukawa was still in bed and frowning even more when he found the bed empty, he walked out of the bedroom and found the boy on the dining table.  
  
Asleep.  
  
And only in his black cotton boxers. Oh, how cute! They've got nice fox prints on them! Sendoh mentally remarked.  
  
"Sendoh...omae o korosu (1)," whispered Rukawa in his sleep.  
  
Kawaii, Sendoh thought to himself.  
  
I think Sendoh had said cute too much.  
  
The dining table was clean, except for half a glass of milk, a half- bowl of cereal and Rukawa's head. Sendoh sat across Rukawa amusedly watching him and wondering when he would wake up.  
  
Poke, poke.  
  
Growl.  
  
Poke, poke.  
  
Growl.  
  
Sendoh sniggered. Rukawa stirred.  
  
Poke, poke.  
  
Punch.  
  
Missed, tough luck.  
  
Rukawa woke up, directing an extra-cold glare at the person sitting across him. "What are you still doing here, Sendoh?" He could barely keep his voice in its normal pitch and volume because he was seething.  
  
"Waiting for you to wake up!"  
  
Rukawa raised an eyebrow. "Why?"  
  
"Hmmm...we could talk."  
  
"No."  
  
"But you're already talking to me."  
  
"..."  
  
The raven-haired boy finished his half-eaten breakfast. He stopped exchanging words with Sendoh for one reason only: his heart was almost ripping out his ribcage. If he talked, it might jump out of his mouth and into his cereal.  
  
Disgusting.  
  
Rukawa almost squirmed under Sendoh's amused stare. He groaned in exasperation and whined in a manner fit for icepeople like him, "What do you want?"  
  
Beaming victoriously over his success in making Rukawa talk, Sendoh gleefully replied, "I'm here to pick you up, of course! You picked me up the other day, I thought I should do the same."  
  
"I don't need you."  
  
Sendoh made a mocking hurt face. "Ouch, Rukawa-kun!"  
  
Rukawa got up the table and made for the bedroom. His heart was dancing excitedly in its cage and he felt that if he stayed there a second longer, it might really and literally displace itself.  
  
Same reason applies when he slammed the bedroom door into the said trespasser's face.  
  
If you're thinking that Rukawa wasn't thinking all that while, you're wrong. He was utterly surprised out of his wits when he woke up that morning, but it doesn't mean he didn't have any ideas going on in that pretty head of his. He's a teenage guy after all. I'd absolutely love to tell you some nice little details, but doing so would force me to change the rating of this fic.  
  
See, he was asking himself how Sendoh might have gotten inside his bedroom and what Sendoh could've done to him between the time he got in and the moment he woke up. First problem was answered when he saw the kitchen window open, but what about the second? You, of course, know that nothing happened, but our dear fox thinks otherwise. In fact, the instant that Rukawa saw Sendoh's face the first thought that came to him was that he had been, um, taken advantage of in his sleep. But he was definitely not the type to entertain those kind of thoughts in his virginal head so he discarded them.  
  
So he stuck with the semi-true hypothesis that Sendoh just wanted to annoy him and scare him out of his brains.  
  
And on the side, he was wondering why he was walking with Sendoh right now. Was he getting too comfortable with him?  
  
Absolutely not. Quit messing with my mind, Thought. I'm getting an especially painful headache.  
  
And also, speculating why Mitsui, Miyagi and Kogure were waiting with Sakuragi. WHAT?! How the freaking hell did they know? Sakuragi, you better explain this or I'll kill you. So said his deadly glare.  
  
Sakuragi raised his chin. "What? I want them to come, they wanted to come and here they are! What the hell is wrong with that?"  
  
"It's supposed to be a secret, ahou."  
  
Miyagi butted in. "Don't worry, Rukawa-kun, we won't tell anyone else."  
  
Fifteen minutes have passed since Rukawa and Sendoh sat down by the seaside to fish, and still neither have caught anything. For the second task, the rules are much more simple than the first. The first to catch a fish wins. See, seven words!  
  
Rukawa yawned. His eyelids were drooping and anytime soon, he'll be sleeping again. Sendoh on the other hand was silently and patiently waiting for fish. Sakuragi, Kogure, Mitsui, and Miyagi were some yards away playing an exceptionally mature and adult game they called "Janken (2) Dare". The loser/s have to do a dare that the winner/s tell them.  
  
"Jankenpon!"  
  
Status: Sakuragi, rock, Kogure, Mitsui, and Miyagi, paper.  
  
"GAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"  
  
Kogure was the first to give his dare. "Tap Rukawa on the shoulder."  
  
Then Mitsui. "Then tell him, 'Suki da, Kaede-chan." The three snickered so as to not disturb the challengers.  
  
"And then kiss him on the cheek."  
  
Sakuragi's eyes popped out of their sockets because of their sheer size. "NANI?!"  
  
"It's just a dare, Sakuragi."  
  
"NANI?! IYAAAA!!!"  
  
"Quiet!"  
  
"Come on, Sakuragi, don't be such a killjoy."  
  
"You're lucky I didn't ask you to kiss him on the lips."  
  
Sakuragi paled and sighed, but did the dare nonetheless. He walked towards the place where Rukawa and Sendoh were seated and took five deep breaths. He tapped the sleeping Rukawa's shoulder and avoided the punch meant for people who disturbed his sleep.  
  
Rukawa woke. "What?"  
  
Sakuragi knelt down in front of the kitsune and clasped one of Rukawa's hands. "SukidaKaede-chan," he said very quickly and gave a very hasty kiss on the cheek. To which Rukawa gave an extra hard punch on the nose, sending the redhead into the water. Sendoh, Miyagi, Kogure, and Mitsui laughed their kidneys out.  
  
Everybody seems to like to make fun of Rukawa, ne?  
  
Idiots.  
  
"TEMEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Micchy, Ryochin, Megane...SHINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Sakuragi, trying to get out of the waters but failing miserably.  
  
There was a tug on each of Rukawa's and Sendoh's fishing rods. They looked at each other and furiously worked the reel until finally, both boys simultaneously pulled their catch out of the water.  
  
"GYAAAAAAA!!! KITSUNE, THOSE ARE MY SHORTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
TBC   
  
(1) Hehehe...by some not-so-strange coincidence, that quote is usually associated with Heero (Gundam W) whose seiyuu happens to be Midorikawa Hikaru who also happens to be Rukawa's seiyuu. It's the Disney Family! Oops.  
  
(2) Janken (pon)- Rock-scissors-paper 


	5. The Third Task

AUTHOR'S NOTES: We're now on the third task! You think this fic won't get any stupider? Think again. The OOC Syndrome has now infected our dear Rukawakins, and I think he needs time to get well. Anyway, thanks for the nice reviews.

* * *

The Third Task: Of Tutus and Cookies

* * *

"No."

"YES."

"No."

"NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! YES! YES! YES!"

SCORE: Rukawa, one, Sendoh, one, Sakuragi...465

Sure, Sakuragi's not part of the challenge, but he sure felt like a winner right now. Kami-sama had been on his side and someone was going to pay for embarrassing him. The look on Rukawa's and Sendoh's faces are priceless. Sendoh's face was all green and Rukawa's complexion was an exquisite shade of blue.

"That's for getting me wet, Kitsune! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Excuse me, readers, I have to go and laugh my head off first. Or puke, if the situation calls.

Rukawa stared listlessly at the ceiling. He was having a very bad day, alright. First, he wakes up with Sendoh's face as the first thing he saw. Then, he lost today's task because of Sakuragi's stupidity. And last...

He shuddered.

That ahou...

He knew that the ahou did it on purpose just to embarrass him. He should've known that employing Sakuragi's help would result in getting entangled in such...degrading situations. Sakuragi was trying to outdo him after all, but he knew that he wouldn't win to someone like Rukawa so he resorted to foul play.

But Rukawa was not going to back down. He started this game, and if Sakuragi chose to shove his overly huge red head into his business, then so be it.

Even if it involves selling cookies while wearing a tutu.

Shudder.

* * *

The first thing that Sendoh did when he came home is dash straight to the bathroom and vomit all his embarrassment and disgust.

Selling cookies wearing a tutu? Who came up with that? Surely not Rukawa-kun?

Vomit.

His mind was drawing very...humiliating visions right now. Rukawa wearing a pink tutu, tights, a tiara, and ballet shoes carrying a basket full of cookies. Him wearing the same.

Vomit.

Rukawa was right. Sakuragi does hate both of us.

* * *

Bored. Yes, that's what Rukawa was, idly switching the remote and seeing the same channels over and over again. He was having his dinner of dry curry, rice, takoyaki, miso soup, and banana split out of sheer boredom. Heck, he even cooked a four-course meal because he had nothing to do!

Usually, at times like these, he took a nice, long stroll in LaLaLand but he was too bored to do even that. He yawned a couple of times and closed his eyes, but sleep seems to be too busy to bother with him. He concluded that many people are stealing his portion of sleep right now and are enjoying themselves in the arms of slumber.

Curse those people.

Sighing, he turned off the TV and put his dirty dishes on the sink, putting off washing them till tomorrow. But...what to do next?

The night is still young—it was just a little after seven. There were a lot of things a normal person could do, like go out and have a drink or dash to a nearby mall or play in the arcade...the options depend on what the person is. But for Rukawa...there is always...

Basketball.

I knew you had that coming.

* * *

The time was 6:30 and Sendoh was picking vegetables around the plate. Very interesting indeed.

The air con had broken down because he had left it on that morning. He was hot, and fanning himself seems to make him hotter. Rivers of sweat streamed down his body and clung to his clothes like Velcro, sometimes pooling on the floor where he sat. He was hot, dammit.

Hot. As in atsui. Not as in...you know. Sex-y. Whichever way it is.

He needed air right now. But there was just not enough ventilation in his house.

"ARGH!"

He went upstairs and into the bathroom, tossing his clothes unceremoniously into the laundry bin. He slammed the door shut and turned the shower on to its fullest, sighing as the icy jets hit his skin. He stood under the shower more relieved than he was. The mint soap that he used was a great help too.

Sendoh almost hesitated to step out of the shower. The bedroom was as hot as the rest of the house. He didn't even want to dress, but sauntering naked around his house would cause great scandal in the neighborhood. Especially if someone sees.

There was no other choice but to go out. At least, the night air was much cooler than this oven of a house. Plus there were more things to do than fan himself and play with his food.

* * *

I can't believe it!

Rukawa's fingertips against his basketball were white. His face could've been red with fury if he were a normal person, but being himself he could only be three shades paler. His jaw was clenched and he could only stop himself from making a furious rampage. The hand on the wire fence clenched so hard, the wire practically ripped.

He was mad. Terribly mad. He had planned to have some time alone to practice, but when he got to the nearest basketball court he saw the last thing he wanted to see.

Sendoh Akira.

For some reason, his blood boiled at the sight. It strongly reminded him of the reason he started this challenge and he didn't really want to think about that.

Not when he was starting to get comfortable with Sendoh already.

His fists clenched tighter, as he realized that he didn't mean what he just thought. And it made the flame that was boiling his blood burn harder.

Kisama! I hate you, Sendoh, I hate you! ARGH!

Unable to control his anger, Rukawa threw the basketball at the fence and ran away as fast as his long legs could bear.

Sendoh, alarmed at the sudden clang of the wire fence, whirled around and saw a sort-of-familiar silhouette in the distance. The bouncing basketball caught his eye.

Is it...

could it be...

A bomb?

* * *

Rukawa stormed into his house and slammed his front door to show his anger.

"Meow."

The black cat that often 'visits' him greeted him with its soft meow, blinking in confusion. The cat hadn't come in two weeks, so its presence was a surprise to Rukawa. But he was very thankful that it was there because somehow, it relaxed him and at the same time reminded him that he was Rukawa Kaede and nothing could piss him off. Except, occasionally, Sakuragi.

The cat rubbed itself against Rukawa's legs, purring as if it was saying, "Tadaima" and "Hisashiburi". Rukawa bent to give it a light pat on the head and walked off to look for nibbles and milk.

And that's when he realized that he shouldn't be angry at Sendoh. It just wasn't like him at all. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Sendoh being there at the basketball court before him. He was just mad because...he thought Sendoh was just doing that to annoy him.

But there was something else that made him angry. He can't explain it fully, but it was like...Sendoh was stealing his thoughts. Yeah, that's how it felt. He hated it, because even for a split second, he felt that his mind was exposed. And thinking in the same line of thought as Sendoh was great in basketball but outside the court...

He hated it.

But it was no reason to be angry.

"Meow."

The black cat meowed expectantly, seeing the bowl of biscuits and milk on Rukawa's hand. Rukawa put down the bowl beside the sink and the cat immediately sprang and attacked its meal.

He could live with Sendoh's presence.

* * *

After making sure that the basketball was not a bomb of any sort, Sendoh scratched his head idiotically and absent-mindedly bounced the ball. Once, twice, thrice, four times it bounced until it got tired of bouncing and tried a new activity called rolling to amuse itself. But before it could try that, Sendoh caught it and inspected it some more to try to figure out who its owner was. Sure, it was next to impossible, but he had to try.

Hello, what's this?

And by a very nice stroke of luck he was rewarded. Minute characters that spelled 'Rukawa Kaede' were written on it.

So...he was that person. But why was he here? Why did he run away? Did he want to pee or something? Why did he leave his ball here? Why didn't he call out to me? Oh, scratch that. Of course he wouldn't call out to me.

He had so many questions. And he knew that if he wanted answers, he should go to Rukawa's house and return it.

And that's what he'll do right now. Yep.

* * *

Someone's knocking on Rukawa's door. Naturally, as there was no one else there besides the cat, he opened it and--look who's here.

"Konbanwa, Rukawa-kun."

Rukawa just glared coldly. And glared some more. And glared one more time just because he liked to make it three. Ha! That's for stealing my space. Sort of. He was pleased to see Sendoh almost squirming under his Supah-Cowld Rukawa Glare.

"Anou...I found your ball. You left it at the basketball court."

Rukawa glared at the ball but did nothing else.

"I didn't notice you there," Sendoh said, shrugging and smiling uneasily.

Rukawa remained silent. Sendoh followed suit. Crickets made their presence known. The black cat meowed.

Sendoh bent down and scratched the cat's neck. "I didn't know you had a cat."

Rukawa raised an eyebrow and didn't reply. He snatched the ball from Sendoh and went inside followed by the black cat.

Outside, Sendoh scratched his head. So, he didn't get any answers, but he returned the ball. That was really weird. Yesterday, Rukawa was almost out of his igloo and now he's back in. Sheesh, he's a fickle one. I don't think I'll ever understand him fully. Oh well, he's Rukawa. He shrugged and made his way back home.

Little does he know.

* * *

More slumber party fun!

Er, yeah. Right.

Tonight's agenda: Try and Figure Out the Reason for Rukawa's Revenge Part 2.

"You know, Miyagi-kun, it is possible."

"What?! Kogure-kun, are you really supporting Mitsui-kun's theory that Rukawa's...you know..."

"Not exactly, but it is possible. Sherlock Holmes after all said that when everything's proved false, then the remaining hypothesis, however outrageous, must be true. Or something along those lines."

"But we don't have anything yet."

"Yeah..."

"Maybe Rukawa's working for a reality TV show that's secretly filming the tasks! The title could be, 'Kanagawa Olympics' or something like that."

"Nope. Rukawa's too camera shy."

"Maybe Rukawa's dying and he wanted to do stuff he'd never done before."

"Last time I checked, he was perfectly healthy teenager. And he'd done biking and fishing before. Plus, the tasks weren't completely chosen by him alone. Remember, Sendoh and Sakuragi also have their tasks in there."

"Yeah..."

"Maybe someone possessed him so that spirit could conquer the whole world."

Raised eyebrows.

"Maybe a stupid and insane author decided to write a random fic about Rukawa doing silly stuff and putting revenge as an excuse!"

Er...hey, you guys are getting too smart for your own good!

"And maybe that author is in league with Sakuragi!"

OK, I take that back.

"Anou...where did that come from?"

"I dunno."

"Maybe he's gone crazy and he's just doing this for the heck of it."

"Rukawa may be antisocial, but he's not crazy."

"Maybe he's trying to be social now but he's too proud to admit that, so he challenges Sendoh as an excuse to make friends with him."

"But why Sendoh? He could've started with Haruko. Or with any of his horde of fangirls."

"Rukawa hates girls."

"Well, why not us?"

"Hypothesis scrapped then."

"So that leaves us to two things. Either Rukawa's telling the truth and he does want to beat Sendoh's crap out...or he's gay?"

"He's not gay."

"Yeah. Straight as Miyagi's hair."

"Hey!"

"We haven't proved that yet, Mitsui."

"That's the point, isn't it?"

* * *

Five long, uneventful days have passed and before anyone noticed, it's Friday already. Everybody who knew about the games hardly talked about it, being busy with practice and school and their own personal businesses. Except Sakuragi, of course, who was the Eternal Loudmouth of the Shohoku Basketball Team. He just couldn't resist rubbing into Rukawa's face that he was going to have a field day tomorrow. Of course, no one knew what he was talking about except Rukawa, Mitsui, Miyagi and Kogure. If anyone asked, they just shrugged and pretended they didn't know anything.

Of course, when Sakuragi hurls a nice little tutu joke, Rukawa would hurl the nice big basketball in the redhead's face which would be the start of another round of the Sakuragi-Rukawa Freestyle Fighting Tournament.

Everyone, except probably Rukawa, was excited about tomorrow. Well, hello, what kind of a male person would gladly wear a freaking pink tutu in public? Surely not Rukawa!

"Is this really necessary?" groaned Sendoh, who looked as if he wanted to rip apart the...thing he was wearing. He glanced over to Rukawa, who was trying to burn his own garments with his glare.

Sakuragi grinned cheekily and eagerly said, "Yes," making the other two cringe. Mitsui and Miyagi snickered, earning themselves a jut in the ribs from Kogure, who was barely keeping himself from laughing out loud.

It was just as Sendoh imagined: shocking pink tutu, tiara, pink tights, ballet shoes. Oh, and a basket of cookies with pink ribbons. Rukawa was wearing a pastel version of his oufit. Rukawa's lucky, thought Sendoh. At least he could pass for a girl.

Rukawa's determination outweighed his mortification, but he did mind. The ballet shoes were a bit too tight for his feet and his legs were itching because of the tights. But at least, he was not wearing makeup.

Mitsui explained the rules because Sakuragi was still in a fit of laughter. "OK, this is really easy. The person who sells the most number of cookies within an hour wins. The money is yours, by the way. Cookies sell at twenty yen per box, and it's really cheap if you ask me. There are fifty boxes of cookies there so you can earn one thousand yen max." Mitsui looked at his watch. "It's 10:30 now so you have to finish by 11:30."

Without a word, Rukawa walked away, stiff determination shadowing his aching ballet shoe-clad feet. People threw him odd glances, but they never did win against his award-winning glare. And at first glance, as Sendoh thought, he did look like a girl. Some people even went away when he passed, thinking he was some lunatic or sick pervert or something. He made his way across the park, to the children's playground.

Some of his fangirls were at the park and they thankfully didn't recognize him.

"RUKAWA-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!"

Or so he thought.

He cringed as the screeching mention of his name instantly alerted all the fangirls in the area.

"Kawaii!"

"Rukawa-kun looks cute in a tutu!"

"Sou desu ne!"

"I never thought he looks pretty in pink!"

"KAWAII!!!"

"Ne, Rukawa-kuuuuuuuun, what's that in your basket?"

And a very fantastic idea got into his head.

"Cookies. Twenty yen per box."

All the fangirls squealed. "Sugoii! Rukawa-kun is talking to us!" Immediately, a scramble to buy some of Rukawa's cookies ensued and Rukawa mentally smirked at his assured victory. He looked at Sendoh who was watching in the distance, on his way to try his luck at the children's playground. Sendoh smiled at him, and he had to look away, forcing himself to concentrate on selling.

Mitsui, Miyagi, and Kogure shook their heads. "Looks like Rukawa will win this," said Mitsui. The other two nodded and chuckled.

Sendoh stood outside the children's playground, his own share of spectators gathering around him.

"Ne, Oniichan, why are you wearing a dress?" asked a little girl, tugging at his skirt.

Sendoh beamed at her. "I wear this at work. You want to buy some cookies? They taste really great and they're cheap too. Just twenty yen!"

Some of the children ran to their mothers to ask for money. Others, who had brought some change with them quickly bought a box from him.

Sakuragi, watching from a distance, frowned. This was not going according to his plan. Rukawa and Sendoh were supposed to be humiliated. But, of course he was not going to let them ruin his fun. He took out a camera and began taking pictures of the two. Hehehehe.

Click.

By the time 11:30 came, the crowd around Rukawa and Sendoh dispersed, but the boxes were not empty, surprising the judges. Mitsui, Miyagi and Kogure expected Rukawa and Sendoh to sell everything, but it turns out they didn't.

Finally, after counting the remaining boxes, Mitsui, Miyagi, Sakuragi, and Kogure announced the winner. "Rukawa wins by one box!"

Rukawa snorted smugly at Sendoh and went to change into his clothes.

The remaining five blinked at him.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I dunno."

Sakuragi was cleaning his ears and waved him away. "He's just Rukawa. Leave him alone. He'll be back."

And true enough, Rukawa came back with that usual arrogant look on his face.

"See, I told you."

Kogure tapped the redhead on the shoulder. "Sakuragi-kun, can I choose the next task?"

The redhead blinked at him but nodded anyway. "Sure, why not?"

Kogure beamed at him and took the bag containing the lots. Then, opening the slip of paper, his eyes widened and he gasped. His cheeks were red. "Anou...Mitsui, I think you should do the honors."

Rukawa tensed. If this was another of Sakuragi's stupid jokes...he'd rather not dwell on it.

Sakuragi had a vague idea of what the task was. Judging by Kogure's reaction to it, it was one of his own and more or less...he knew what it was.

Mitsui, upon seeing the contents of the slip, shot a reprimanding look at Sakuragi. "I think this is your idea," he said. Sakuragi shrugged and looked as innocent as he can. "Kissing contest. Sakuragi's house. Tomorrow at, um, let's see...seven pm. That'll give us time to prepare a romantic dinner for two." Sakuragi, Miyagi and Mitsui helped themselves to a long-awaited laugh. Oh, Kogure had passed out, though I don't know when.

Rukawa and Sendoh both froze. If they thought this task was the worst and that wearing tutus challenged their masculinity, and if they hadn't turned enough nice colors earlier...look at them now. And Sakuragi was really having a field day with this. A couple more pictures should do it. Hehehe. He had taken pictures of the two without them noticing.

And as for the boys...the same single thought ran through their frozen minds.

CHIGAUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!

"So, yeah, you guys can go home now. You know, to have some time to...practice."

TBC

* * *

Sorry about the ending. I know, it sucks big time. Gomen. 


	6. The Fourth Task

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hey, I composed a nice nursery rhyme for myself. "Lazy, crazy writer can't write a proper fic. Lazy, crazy writer gets blockies very quick. Lazy, crazy writer running out of humor! But lazy, crazy writer has to finish more chapters! Lazy, crazy writer get started on your fic. Lazy, crazy writer finish very quick. Lazy, crazy writer write before I'm sick!" Wow, that was nice.

* * *

The Fourth Task: Rukawa and Sendoh sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

* * *

When he was safely in his own home, Rukawa now let his true color show.

Which was, by the way, a nice shade of scarlet.

He now deeply regretted asking for Sakuragi's, or for that matter, anybody's help in his revenge. The redhead ahou was exacting his own revenge and he, Rukawa, had just given him the perfect opportunity.

Stupid him. Now his plan is backfiring dangerously at him.

And still, the author will not change the title to 'Sakuragi's Revenge'.

On another point in the plane of Kanagawa, a certain boy-slash- hedgehog was visiting his bathroom for the second time in two days.

I'm damn straight, dammit! Why would I kiss a...guy? Even if it's Rukawa—

His thoughts were cut off. What did I mean by 'even if it's Rukawa'? He thought harder, thinking why he had thought that. Oh yeah, even if I'm fighting against him. Right.

Vomit.

The thoughts of beating Rukawa were temporarily scrapped. Probably he vomited them out already.

* * *

Rukawa was in a muddle. For a moment there, he wanted to back out of the task, but he remembered that it was all his fault after all. It was he who challenged Sendoh, he who asked for that ahou's help. It was he who was distracted by Sendoh's innocent smile, it was his heart who went dokidoki, it was his brain who stopped functioning, it was his hands that carelessly threw the ball in.

But now, he realized that he could have just packed for America and not care at all that Sendoh was still better than him in basketball. His pride, however, wouldn't let that happen, but it was not yet high enough to not accept that Sendoh WAS better than him in basketball. That was exactly why he started this little game.

He was caught in his own mess.

Mentally cursing himself, he went upstairs to sulk in his bedroom, the way he always did.

* * *

"Kanpai!"

"Kanpai!"

Sakuragi, Mitsui, and Miyagi were helping themselves to grape juice, celebrating the joys of today. Kogure's still out cold, and he was sprawled on Mitsui's bed unceremoniously.

"I wonder if they'll do it."

"They have to. Well, at least Rukawa has. This is his plan after all."

"Oi, Sakuragi, do you, by any chance know why Rukawa is doing this?"

"He can't beat Sendoh in basketball, so he put that off for a while and in the meantime challenged Sendoh in a stupid game."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. Sheesh, it's not like Rukawa's in love with Sendoh or something!"

Mitsui and Miyagi choked.

Sakuragi ignored them and continued, "Well, then this task is for him! NYAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Mitsui and Miyagi spat out their drinks.

"So you think Rukawa IS in love with Sendoh?"

"That's impossible, Micchy, Rukawa's as straight as straight can be. Besides, if that were true, then it would be the best day of my life. HARUKO WILL BE MINE!!!!!!!!!! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Author winces at mention of a certain female.

Kogure sat up slowly and rubbed his head. "Wha-what happened?"

Sakuragi, still on a high on that puke Haruko puke comment, yelled and hooked the poor boy's head. "Megane-kun! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Mitsui, seeing the puzzled look on Kogure's face, sweatdropped. and join us, Kogure-kun!" he said, patting the space beside him.

"So, uh, what's Sakuragi so happy about?"

Miyagi just waved the question away. "Ack, never mind that baka! Let's drink to Rukawa and Sendoh's kiss! Kanpai!"

Sakuragi stopped laughing and angrily turned to Miyagi. "Who are you calling baka, Ryochin?! Ore wa tensai!!!"

So Miyagi ended up with a lovely smoking ornament on his forehead.

"Kanpai!"

* * *

"Oh, Akira, aishiteru."

"Aishiteru, Kaede."

"Kiss me, Akira."

"Yes, Kaede."

IYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Rukawa jumped out of bed, violently shaking his head, hoping perhaps to erase the dream he just had. It was like a mushy soap, the kind that makes some people cringe at the sheer romance and he hated it. Ick.

He was starting to hate Sunday mornings.

He rubbed his temples, trying to ease the throbbing in his head. Most cheesy parts of his dream were already forgotten, but that one last scene...he seemed to remember it as hell. Probably because it was the last thing he saw before he woke up, but nevertheless that particular picture seemed to send sharp shivers up his spine.

Today was the most dreadful day in Rukawa's life. And that stupid dream just put the icing on the mortification cake.

He got out of bed reluctantly, sleepily fixing the bed sheets. Breakfast was surely gonna be bitter today, he thought, but he had to take it lest he died of hunger and embarrassment later.

Yeah, later. That's a good thought.

He's gonna show them that he was not bothered at all by the task. Like he did for sixteen years. He was going to show them that he didn't give a shit, that he was going to kiss Sendoh like all kisses he had.

Oh, right, he hadn't kissed anyone before.

* * *

"We've got to buy flowers."

"Roses?"

"Yeah, that's nice."

"What about food?"

"Italian?"

"Pasta sounds delicious."

"What's pasta?"

"Italian noodles."

"Oh, with the red sauce all over it?"

"Yep."

"Hey, we can do white sauce!"

"Doesn't anybody have a cookbook here?"

"Nope."

"I know how to cook, Hisashi-kun."

"Great! Then you be in charge of the food."

"Hey, wait a minute, I'm in charge of everything here!"

"Sure you are, Sakuragi."

"Where do we get the money for all of these?"

"Don't worry, Sakuragi-kun, we've got everything covered."

"So...where shall we start?"

* * *

Too early had the sun set. Too early had the clock said six o'clock. Too fast had his time trickled down.

Aww, shit, just as he was starting to enjoy his jigsaw puzzle!

Rukawa forced his feet to move, sighing as he made his way into the bathroom for a quick shower. He had hoped that the clock would skip from five o'clock to nine o'clock so that he wouldn't have to face one of his greatest fears.

The Fourth Task.

Hey, is there a proper –phobia name for the fear of The Fourth Task?

With a heavy heart he stripped himself and got into the shower. He needed a plan. Right now.

First...he had to delay as long as possible. Then he'd arrive fashionably late at Sakuragi's. There's no way he'd arrive on time. If he did, it'd show them that he was...enthusiastic about it. And he was not.

Then...he'd just get it over and done with. He'd kiss Sendoh and win the task.

Yep. Good plan.

Sendoh happily skipped towards the general direction of Sakuragi's house. He had the perfect plan for tonight.

First...he'd be there on time. Can't give Rukawa reason to snort at him!

Then...he'd get it over and done with. And he'd do his best, for his part. If he's gonna kiss Rukawa...then better be good at it.

Yep. He's gonna win this task alright.

* * *

"Hurry up, they're gonna be here any moment now!"

"NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can't wait for them to come."

"Sakuragi, help us out here, man."

"I am helping!"

"I wonder how's the food going."

"I'll go check."

"Ouch! The roses still have thorns!"

"NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I didn't have them de-thorned. I want to see Rukawa BLEEDING! NYAHAHAHAHA!"

"Sheesh, then why'd you help Rukawa?"

"It's interesting!"

"Wow, you actually have a brain under the red hair?"

"Of course! ORE WA TENSAI!!! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

What the hell is taking him so long?

Sendoh and Mitsui waited outside the door of Sakuragi's house. You see, what's inside was a surprise, so the two challengers must come together so as to not spoil the surprise.

But ten minutes had passed and still no sign of Rukawa.

Sendoh almost rejoiced, but he remembered that there was no win by default. Crap.

Mitsui was observing Sendoh, you know, just to look for evidences to verify one or more of their theories. Especially his own, which was the Rukawa Loves Sendoh Theory.

And speaking of the devil...

Finally.

Rukawa entered the scene with that smug look on his face. No apologies for being late. No excuses whatsoever. Well, it's Rukawa. Typical.

Mitsui smirked and held the door open. "Well, gentlemen, you may now enter."

What the hell?!

Rukawa and Sendoh both didn't know that the judges really were serious with the dinner thing. The dimly-lit room looked like a scene from a cheesy romance flick. Roses of every color were strategically placed around Sakuragi's living room, letting out a thick smell that just reeked of romance. The table in the middle was set for two and there was a single candlestick in the middle.

Both boys winced.

"Have a seat," Kogure said, motioning to the chairs on opposite sides of the table. Rukawa and Sendoh obliged, Sendoh with his smile and the other with an indifferent nod.

Honestly, the night could get more interesting than this, ne?

If I could just work this "Flash Forward Machine for Fanfiction" thingamajig...wait, I think I got it...just a little tweaking...where does this screw go? Oh, here!

Great! Now let's Flash Forward!

Dinner was, of course, uncomfortably and dreadfully silent. The moment was just hanging there at the end of the silence, waiting to happen.

And Sakuragi had the scissors to cut the crap and move to the main event.

The redhead literally pushed them out of their respective chairs and told them to stand in front of each other. He could barely restrain himself from laughing out loud as he explained with fervor, "For this task, you're supposed to kiss each other. It's up to you if you want tongue—"Rukawa and Sendoh blanched. He continued, "First one to pull away loses! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Miyagi shrugged and added his own comment. "Well, you may start anytime you want."

Sendoh, seeing the four Shohoku players gathered in front of them, asked, "Are you gonna be watching us?"

Mitsui laughed. "Of course! How do we know who'll win?"

Sendoh sighed.

The two competitors stared at each other for a brief moment, then looked away embarrassedly. Neither one didn't want to move, or was just frozen on the spot. Sendoh shifted uneasily where he stood and Rukawa was just being the cold iceberg that he is. Somehow, their plans flew out the window the instant they saw each other's eyes and all they could do was wait for the other to make the first move.

Oh, yeah they've got a plan.

Sendoh successfully willed his feet to step towards Rukawa. Rukawa's eyes almost widened at that, but all he managed was a glare straight at Sendoh's smiling eyes. Sendoh was now right in front of the fox. There was just a couple of inches between them and nobody was willing to close the distance. Yet.

What do I do now? Shall I kiss him? Argh! No! But if I don't I'll 's staring at me. Damn, am I blushing? I've never been this embarrassed before!

Come on, you guys, KISS NOW! NOW! NOW!

Nyahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Ore wa tensai!

When will these guys start?

I wonder where this will end up.

Realizing that if he doesn't act soon then nobody will win, Sendoh mentally sighed and shrugged and dipped his head towards Rukawa's.

Yes, yes, that's it!

Kiss him now!

"Er..." Sendoh uttered, seeing the expectant looks on Mitsui's, Miyagi's, Kogure's, and Sakuragi's faces centimeters from his face. Rukawa snorted. Again. The four Shohoku players moved away, laughing. "Sorry 'bout that."

So back to step one.

Dogs barked.

A girl shrieked.

Crickets sang.

A bat flew.

Oh, whatever.

Simultaneously, Rukawa tilted his head upwards as Sendoh's descended, their lips meeting in a light kiss. Rukawa stared as Sendoh's eyes slid shut and his fox eyes widened considerably as he felt the older boy deepening the kiss and trying to gain entrance into his mouth.

His instincts immediately took over.

"Ow!"

"Sendoh-kun!"

To everyone's surprise, Sendoh was sent backwards by Rukawa's punch in his gut. Rukawa didn't feel it himself.

"What did you do that for?" asked Miyagi.

Rukawa shrugged. "He was overdoing it."

Then, unexpectedly, Sendoh laughed. Kogure sweatdropped.

"Overdoing---hahahahahahahahahahaha!! Rukawa-kun----hahaha!" Sendoh couldn't get a word out of his mouth because of his laughing fit. Sakuragi was on the verge of giving him a nice headbutt, but was stopped when Sendoh spoke. "Rukawa-kun, was that your first kiss?"

Mitsui's, Miyagi's, Kogure's, and Sakuragi's jaws dropped at the bomb that Sendoh just exploded.

"What?" Rukawa exclaimed, feeling the heat rise to his face. How dare he laugh about it?!

"That was your first kiss, wasn't it? The way you reacted...seems like you've never kissed anyone before."

The tone of Sendoh's voice was dangerously teasing, bordering on insult. Rukawa's fists clenched and was shaking with anger. "Urusai!"

Rukawa wordlessly turned his heel and headed for home.

The time was nine twenty-six PM.

* * *

"First kiss, eh?"

"Nyahaha! Kitsune---nyahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

"I think we offended him, guys."

"So what? That stupid kitsune deserved it."

"Sakuragi-kun!"

"Did you see that look on Sendoh's face? You know, when he kissed Rukawa?"

"No."

"So didn't I."

"We should make it up to them! Choose an innocent task, Sakuragi!"

"Eh? What was that?"

"Ewwww! Stop picking your nose, Sakuragi!"

"Hey, how about this one: cooking, at Rukawa's house?"

"Hey, who gave you permission, RYOCHIN!"

"We've got heavy practice tomorrow. "

"Man, can't you convince Akagi to give us a break? You're the vice- captain!"

"No can do, Hisashi-kun. We've got a practice game with Ryonan on Tuesday."

"What a coincidence."

"Yeah, you said it."

"So...when can we schedule the next task?"

"Thursday's good. It's just cooking, anyway."

* * *

Sendoh practically danced as he went home. He had won the task and was tied with Rukawa. Plus, he surely will get a kick out of knowing that he had been Rukawa's first kiss. Rukawa's first kiss was not to a girl he loved, but to him, Sendoh Akira, a guy and his rival.

Pity nobody had a camera.

Meanwhile, Rukawa was cursing himself for letting Sendoh have another point for that one. He was kissing Sendoh already, but he just had to let that particular thing get to him. Fuck that it was his first kiss! It was all for a good cause! He was cool guy Rukawa, for Pete's sake! He shouldn't be, er, skittish about a kiss!

Damn that stupid Sendoh. I'll show him. I WILL have my revenge. I'll make sure of that.

TBC

* * *

Ack! I'm sorry if it's stupid! And there's a bit of foul language there, sorry. Anyway, I'm not gonna make promises because I have a very bad case of writer's block, I think (I hope not!), but I'll try to continue as soon as possible. I've got at least seven chapters left to write. At least, because I might write a couple of interludes here and there on my whims. If you've got any suggestions, please say so! Email me at Peace out. 


	7. The Fifth Task

AUTHOR'S NOTES: First day of school is very near, like this coming Monday, so I'm not sure if I'm going to be dormant again or not, but I swear I'll finish this!

Is anybody familiar with Iron Chef? It's like a non-anime Cooking Master Boy. If you have ETC Channel on your TV, watch it. Oh and I don't really know when Ayako's birthday really is, so I'm not gonna mention any dates whatsoever.

I also want to give the actual Sherlock Holmes quote Kogure mentioned in the Third Task chapter. It just happened that I read my old Sherlock Holmes book so might as well give it. "When you have eliminated all which is possible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Oh, and has anyone noticed that I haven't written a single thing about Haruko? Except the puke remark on one of the previous chappies? MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The power of fanfiction!!!! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Please remember that this is FANFICTION. It is not part of the original story. The author does not have to please all his/her audience by his/her work. So...keep the reviews coming! (YUKI THE KITTEN SWEATDROPS)

More power to Wazzup Wazzup and Strangebrew! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

My, my, notes are getting longer. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

WARNING: This chapter contains foul language. Pung!

* * *

The Fifth Task: Iron Chef

* * *

Things were back to normal in Shohoku. Normal, as in the way it used to be before the Rukawa vs. Sendoh Ultimate Challenge, because things were hardly normal here, what with an assortment of flora and fauna for basketball players. There's a red monkey, a fox, a gorilla, a mushroom/cupcake, a frog and...whatever.

"Rukawa's play is improving, ne?"

"Yep, I agree. His speed is increasing."

"But he should do something with his stamina."

Sakuragi's ear had twitched upon hearing Rukawa's name and the praises the fox had been getting were like flamethrowers to him. "Rukawa, Rukawa, always Rukawa! It's bad enough I deal with him even on weekends! I'm better than that stupid fox!"

Whack.

Ayako's paper fan hit the side of his big head. "Urusai, Sakuragi! Just concentrate on your basics!"

The redhead rubbed the smoking lump that had formed where Ayako hit it.

Meanwhile, the pale boy was concentrating hard on his own training, improvising new techniques for the practice game tomorrow. Which was, as fate would have it, with Ryonan. He decided to forgive Sakuragi and his sempai-tachi for last night, knowing that it would affect their play.

Yes, Rukawa has a patient, forgiving, although somewhat harsh soul.

But of course, Sendoh's sort-of insult last night was an exception.

Oh, did I mention that he was selective?

/"That was your first kiss, wasn't it? The way you reacted...seems like you've never kissed anyone before."/

Swish.

The whistle blew, signaling the end of practice. Many of the team members were relieved and walked to the shower stalls immediately. They've been training extra-hard for tomorrow. Although it was just a practice game, Shohoku should never be complacent, Akagi said.

"Oi, Rukawa! Wanna play with me?"

The freshman eyed his scar-faced senior, eager for a chance to apply his new techniques. Hearing Mitsui's challenge, most of the other team members turned and went back to the bleachers to watch them play. It was always interesting to watch those two play one-on-one, almost as interesting as Rukawa and Sakuragi's bickering.

Needless to say, author is incapable of writing a basketball scene so she uses that "Flash Forward Machine for Fanfiction" thingamajig again. Hey, this is becoming quite handy!

Game ends without anyone scoring.

Applause.

"You're getting much better, Rukawa," commented Mitsui through harsh breaths.

Rukawa didn't reply, throwing the ball tiredly into the ring (er...nosebleed). Thanking the gods for the chance to redeem himself, he nodded and followed the rest of the team to the showers, Mitsui beside him.

Author fights the superstrong urge to write a MitRu.

* * *

"Nice game, Rukawa."

Rukawa didn't turn around to even acknowledge the speaker; he knew who that person was. He was still upset with Sendoh over the previous task and decided to ignore him, just as he used to. No one would notice the change anyway.

Shohoku won by a slim seven points, hence Sendoh congratulating Rukawa. Even Sendoh's exceedingly good mood, which by the way surprised his teammates and even led to some rather weird interrogation ("OK, Sendoh, who's the unlucky girl?"), was not enough to break the Shohoku team spirit.

"Let's go to Danny's! My treat!"

Akagi and Kogure looked knowingly at the team manageress, knowing (duh) exactly why she had suddenly decided to treat them all to Danny's. It was no victory party; it was her birthday, and only Kogure and Akagi (and Anzai-sensei) knew that.

Poor Rukawa was dragged along by Miyagi and Mitsui.

"Pass the rice!"

"Oi, Sakuragi, don't hog the pork!"

"Does anyone know where my watch is?"

"Hey, Rukawa, eat up!"

"That's mine, baka!"

"Where's my watch?"

The table(s) occupied by the entire Shohoku team was(were) as expected, the center of all kinds of noises and attention. People were giving them weird looks, especially Rukawa whose good looks attract unwanted attention of all sorts.

Ayako's paper fan was hard at work, whacking random people's heads. So were Akagi's fists, which for some reason focused much on Sakuragi's redhead.

"Oi, Gori, that hurts!"

"Do ahou."

"TEME KITSUNE!"

"Hey, guys, look who's here!"

Heads swung in the direction of the door where Miyagi was pointing to. The sight of a spiky head followed by a handful of familiar-looking boys brought frowns on most of the faces, a warm smile on one, a scowl on another one, and cheeky grins on three. The owner of the spiky head waved at one of the Shohoku people. The three grinning heads swung back to the one wearing the scowl, their grins widening four centimeters on each side of their mouths.

"I found my watch!"

The Shohoku noise started again, apparently ignoring the Ryonan presence.

"Hey, that's mine!"

"Wow, the shrimp is good!"

"Nyahahahahahahahahaha! Itai, GORI!"

"Ayako-chan! Itai!"

"Do'ahou."

"Kisama! Urusai, baka kitsune!"

"You shut up, moron."

"YOU SHUT UP, COLD-BLOODED FOX! Oi, why did everyone get so quiet?"

The sudden absence of noise brought Sakuragi's and Rukawa's attention to the spiky-haired boy that was standing over their table, smiling brightly at one of them. The two also noticed that all the people were looking at them. Particularly at Rukawa, who was glaring at Sendoh.

Sendoh laughed and said to Rukawa, "Can I talk to you for a moment please?"

Rukawa pointedly ignored him, choosing instead to interact with his food rather than Sendoh. Miyagi nudged him with an elbow and cocked his head towards Sendoh. A nervous silence hung over the once-noisy table, waiting to be broken.

Which of course was Sakuragi's job.

The redhead pointed straight at Rukawa's face and laughed. "NYAHAHAHAHAHA! The Kitsune's blushing!"

Rukawa wanted to scream, "I AM NOT BLUSHING!" but that would be so OOC so instead, he did the most Rukawa-like thing and punched Sakuragi.

"Rukawa!"

The pale boy stood up, respectfully bowed to Akagi and Ayako, cast a last glare at Sendoh and walked out of the restaurant.

Smooth, eh?

* * *

Damn that ahou.

Rukawa cycled home alone, as he preferred to. He felt better now that he was out of Sakuragi's insult range.

Or was it bitter?

But why would he be bitter? He walked out of there by his own accord. Actually, he should've thanked Sakuragi for that rather nasty remark because it gave him reason to leave and have some quiet time, ne? Ne?

So cycled home by himself, feeling extremely lighter. And happier, duh.

He decided to stop over at a basketball court to continue his training. He still had to beat Sendoh in basketball, and even if there was a Rukawa vs. Sendoh Ultimate Challenge, he can't slack off. And there were still others who he should watch out for, like Maki, Fujima, and Hanagata.

So why did he challenge Sendoh?

Oh, right, the stupid smile.

* * *

"Orange? What kind of a theme ingredient is that?"

"Noodle?"

"No, too few dishes."

"Cabbage sounds OK."

"Hmm...but its too easy."

"Lamb?"

"Miyagi, these are teenagers, not professional chefs!"

"Right."

"Eeto, since we're on the meat subject, why not beef?"

"Takes too long to cook."

"Pork?"

"Still too easy."

"Lemon."

"That would be unfair!"

"Darn. I was hoping that Sendoh would win."

"What changing sides already?"

"I was never on anybody's side."

"Sakuragi, you'd make a fine subject for psychologists."

"Of course, ore wa tensai!"

"I'd not comment on that."

"So, any other ideas?"

"Shrimp?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me."

"Yeah, not too hard, not too easy."

"Are you insulting me?!"

"Sakuragi, stop drooling."

"Hey, I'm not drooling!"

"What are you doing, idiots?!"

"Akagi!"

"Gori!"

"Don't call me that!"

"ITAI!"

"Fifty laps, the three of you!"

Thursday came and the usual excitement that preceded a task was less, especially on Rukawa's part. He was the type who held grudges if the person was really horrible to him and forgave if the person really deserved it.

As I said, selective.

Akagi wondered why his best players were always in a hurry to go home these days. He also noticed that his vice-captain hung out more with Mitsui and Miyagi than him. And Sakuragi was talking a wee bit more civilly to Rukawa. The captain was happy, yes, because of the improvements in the relationships of his teammates, but he sort of found it odd that it was all too sudden.

He really should talk to Kogure soon.

"Ja, Akagi! We'll see you tomorrow!" called out the Mischief Three aka Sakuragi, Mitsui and Miyagi. Behind them was The Fox Named Rukawa Kaede yawning as if it was the best thing in the world right now. And come to think of it, maybe it was.

Someone tapped Akagi on the shoulder and when he turned, he saw the person he half-expected to see. It was his vice-captain Kogure, all ready to go. "Anou, Akagi—"

Akagi sighed. "Yes, yes, you may go."

"Arigatou, Akagi-kun," said the vice-captain, giving Akagi the gym keys and going to follow his friends.

Ch. He spoke too soon.

* * *

Sendoh was waiting for the Shohoku guys in front of Rukawa's house where the fifth task was to be held. He felt confident in this one because Uozumi had given him some cooking tips some time ago. But he also considered that Rukawa was living alone and would probably be a good cook.

But then again, there's always the possibility that the stoic boy orders takeout.

Sendoh snickered to himself.

Each step Rukawa took was getting heavier and this was probably one of the few times he dreaded going home. His heart was again breakdancing in his chest, and he convinced himself that it was because of anger and not whatever else dokidoki-causing stuff.

So instead, he occupied himself with staring at the plastic bag Kogure was carrying. What could be inside it?

And he realized that he was cheating by trying to find out the theme ingredient, so he stopped staring at the bag.

He just hoped that Sendoh would show up late so he could find an excuse to ignore that lemon-eating hedgehog.

"Wow. Sendoh's here."

Broken dream bubble, anyone?

The Ryonan boy stood up and acknowledged them. "Konbanwa."

"Konbanwa," greeted the four boys with four different tones. Rukawa just walked past them without a second glance, opening the gate and the door. It's a surprise he didn't sneak in, he thought, referring to the time when Sendoh played a prank on him early in the morning.

They shuffled inside after Rukawa, taking their shoes off at the foyer. "Nice place you got here, Rukawa," Miyagi said, looking around the neat and well-maintained house. "Very comfy."

The owner of the house ignored the comment. He'd heard that several times before. He led them to the kitchen and went upstairs to change.

Mitsui stared at Rukawa as the boy left them to bother themselves with whatnot. "Warm welcome," he said.

Rukawa walked into the kitchen wearing his house clothes, a loose red shirt and white cotton shorts. He found the others chatting happily with Sendoh and the stuff in the bag neatly laid out on his kitchen counter.

The task presented a little more effort than the previous tasks. They are required to cook a dish using the theme ingredient. If they needed extra ingredients that are not in Rukawa's private store, they should give a list to the judges before the task starts. Then they have an hour to complete the task. The dish will be judged according to taste (70) and presentation (30) only.

"The theme ingredient is shrimp," said Miyagi, pointing to the large platter of shrimps on the kitchen counter. Behind him, Kogure and Sakuragi sniggered quietly because as Miyagi said the word 'shrimp', Mitsui eagerly pointed to Miyagi. Miyagi was blissfully unaware.

"You've got ten minutes to list down your extra ingredients."

Miyagi, Mitsui, Kogure and Sakuragi, junk food in hand, left the pair to sort out their plans and went to the living room to watch whatever was on TV. Rukawa took out his choice of ingredients from the fridge, as well as a carton of orange juice and a bag of chocolate chip cookies and put them on the kitchen table. Sendoh was surveying Rukawa's cupboards and racks for his choice of ingredients.

Though it was against his will, it was his duty to entertain his guests and unfortunately, Sendoh was his guest. And more unfortunate was the fact that he didn't have any poison in the house. Not like he was going to use it. Rukawa poured out six glasses of juice and put two plates of cookies on the kitchen counter (he didn't put any for the Shohoku guys. They brought their food anyway.). Leaving one plate and one glass on the counter and thanking the gods that he needn't offer them to Sendoh verbally, he carried the tray to the living room where Sakuragi and the rest watched an ongakuban (music show) and were singing along.

"Did you put any poison in it, Kitsune?" Sakuragi asked, peering through the glass of orange juice. He sure didn't trust anything that Rukawa made.

"If I did, then good riddance," came Rukawa's sarcastic reply. The pale boy then went back to the kitchen.

When Sendoh returned from his survey, he was surprised to find a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of orange juice on the kitchen counter. He smiled and took a bite off one and that's when Rukawa entered the kitchen. Their gazes met for a second, then Rukawa went to sort his ingredients. He stood with his back to Sendoh and his heart practicing for an audition for the circus.

"Arigatou," Rukawa heard Sendoh say. He 'hn-ed' and focused on his work.

Miyagi entered the kitchen and asked for their lists, if any, and both boys shook their heads. "OK, then. It's...5:45 PM...I'll be back at 6:45. Good luck."

Rukawa worked in utter silence, trying hard to ignore Sendoh and concentrate on his work. The older boy kept distracting him with his stupid singing and dancing. Sendoh even grabbed hold of Rukawa's hand one time and sang to him a couple of lines from a love song, making Rukawa cringe and slightly blush at the same time. He almost cut his finger when he saw Sendoh gyrating his hips suggestively.

Thank God he didn't nosebleed.

Fighting the intense urge to stab Sendoh with his knife, Rukawa drank some of his orange juice and worked on his dish.

Meanwhile, Sendoh continued to unconsciously annoy and distract (to put it mildly) Rukawa with his silliness. He was waiting for his dish to cook and in the meantime was trying to content himself with music and dancing.

Twenty minutes later, Rukawa did the finishing touches to his dish.

"That looks good, Rukawa-kun," Sendoh beamed, smiling down at Rukawa from behind the younger boy. "What is it?"

"Aaah!"

Sendoh's breath blew hotly against (and into) Rukawa's left ear, making him blush four shades of pink and cry in surprise. He roughly pushed the older boy away, clasping his left ear with his left hand and pointing the knife at Sendoh with his right hand.

Sendoh blinked at Rukawa's display of anger before him. "What did I do now?" he asked aloud, but more to himself, since he wasn't really expecting a reply from the younger boy. Then he noticed Rukawa holding his left ear and his cheeks flushed pink.

He'd never seen Rukawa blush before.

"Oh, I see," Sendoh PURRED, smirking at Rukawa but turning his back at him and pretending to be busy with his work. "You've got sensitive ears."

Rukawa's anger flared, but he didn't show it, knowing well the consequences of being angry at Sendoh. He calmed down and went back to his work.

Then Sendoh blew into his ear again. He turned abruptly, fist ready to bash Sendoh's annoying face in, sarcastic insult ready to pour out from his lips...

Oh, but Fate just had to interfere!

Instead of the sarcastic insult Sendoh (and Rukawa) was expecting, he got a VERY unexpected and unintended lip contact from Rukawa, who was currently wide-eyed with shock and embarrassment.

And to further heighten his humiliation, Sakuragi and co. walked in and froze at the door, seeing the awkward situation the two were in.

Ahh...don't you just love how Fate plays her game?

Mitsui leered at them. "I see we've interrupted something," he said, smirking at them. Miyagi hummed the 'K-I-S-S-I-N-G' song and even danced a silly dance. Sakuragi danced along.

Rukawa and Sendoh, however, were in Another World (do I hear Gackt???). They remained petrified where they were, staring wide-eyed at each other.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!!!

Kami-sama, Rukawa's kissing me!

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!!!

I think I should pull away now. No, maybe just a sec more...

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck fuck!!!

Can I overdo it?

Mitsui faked a cough. "That's just great, guys, take your time."

Rukawa roughly shoved Sendoh away, hurriedly looking as if nothing happened. The faint blush that somehow remained on his cheeks betrayed him however.

"OK. So let's taste test!"

Oh, shit!

* * *

Rukawa now discovered why Mitsui, Miyagi, Sakuragi and Kogure were choking. At first, his Buttered Shrimp in Chili Pepper Mushroom Cream Sauce looked amazing, but after taking a bite, he found that he had put too much pepper, sugar instead of salt (common mistake), and way too much chili.

Sakuragi, red-faced and coughing, managed to choke out, "You're really trying to kill me, aren't you?!"

Miyagi was all but writhing on the floor, screaming, "Water! I need water!"

There go all his chances of winning! Wheeeeeeee!

Sendoh did not escape the trouble net. His Steamed Shrimp Wrap with Lemon Dip, did not look appealing (read: APPALLING), what with the wrap too easily disintegrated and the lemon dip too sour.

Unsurprisingly, none of the judges had a proper dinner that night.

While the four huddled in the living room consuming as much orange juice as they can handle, the two cooks sat in the kitchen, eating their ruined masterpieces.

"Man, this is hot!" Sendoh said, fanning his mouth with his hand. "But I must say, Rukawa, if you fixed this up, this would've been great."

Rukawa rolled his eyes and offered a glass of water to Sendoh, which the other boy readily accepted.

Miyagi, Mitsui, Sakuragi and Kogure went in with the verdict, looking better but still very red.

"It was a very difficult decision, considering that we spent most of our time trying to stay alive than actually tasting the food, but in the end we decided that Sendoh's food was less deadly so he wins."

Rukawa frowned, but accepted the decision. Now Sendoh has a lead of one win over him.

No surprise.

* * *

Sendoh plopped onto his bed grinning like a tomcat. Somehow, even after one helping of Rukawa's hot shrimps (which was enough to set your lips and mouth on fire) the softness of Rukawa's lips still lingered on Sendoh's lips. He didn't know why, but somehow he liked that kiss, especially because Rukawa was the first person he kissed after...a long time.

How ironic.

Sendoh breathed heavily and closed his eyes. It was really funny how Fate works.

If he did that to shut me up...it was very effective.

TBC

* * *

The dishes are just my invention. We're now finished with the first half of the challenge! Woohoo! Just six chapters more (or so...) and we're done! Pung! 


	8. The Sixth Task

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm done with the first half! Yay! Here's the first chapter of the second half. I think it'll just be very short. I don't know, it probably depends on how the story goes. Thanks for the suggestions, I'm really getting lazy nowadays that I'm neglecting the quality of my fic. And for the horrible HTML coding mistake, I deeply apologize! Thanks for pointing that out.

Hmm...actually, when I started writing this fic I was thinking of pairing everyone up. But I decided not to because it would be too unrealistic. Sure, it's fun, but imagine the whole Kanagawa basketball force being homosexuals...it's doesn't happen too often, see. Sorry if I offended anyone; didn't mean to. But I'll try to put in at least one other pairing. It depends on my whims and probably your reviews. I might make this a one sided HanaRu or a threesome MitKoMiya or a wild card SenMiya...who knows, I might even put in Akagi somewhere there...it depends.

And I'd just like to let you know that your reviews count, and I'm really grateful for them so keep them coming!

At talagang astig ang Strangebrew! Wheeeeee!

WARNING: Foul language and, ahem, ecchi thoughts.

* * *

The Sixth Task: K.O.!

* * *

"NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You're floored again, Ryochin!"

"Gah! I will not give up! It's not over yet, Sakuragi!"

"Admit it, Ryochin, you're no match for the Tensai!"

"Shut up, Idiot, and play!"

Meanwhile, on another part of the AA Arcade (name of arcade will be concealed for privacy reasons), Rukawa and Sendoh battled furiously on the hockey machine, neither one scoring yet. This was the sixth task, gaming, and Sakuragi had Sendoh to thank for the double-purpose task (read: the chance to escape chores). But of course, he wouldn't really thank him; it's just a figure of speech.

For this task, they have to play against each other in five machines. Originally it was just one but Sakuragi insisted that it should be five, for longer playing time. The person who wins the most wins. So far, Sendoh was ahead, beating Rukawa in Tekken and King of Fighters. Rukawa, though he only got Rival Schools, still has a chance to win if he beat Sendoh in the last two games.

Rukawa was never the type to indulge in video games. His life was focused only on basketball, albeit pushing his intellectual development aside. He thought video games were a waste of his time and besides, the noise was unbearable in the arcades. Lots of people. He might even get attacked by rabid fangirls.

Sendoh on the other hand was like any normal teenager on this aspect. If he's bummed, he sometimes went here to, you know, play.

The puck slid smoothly and swiftly across the table, having no other choice but to do so. The two followed it with their gazes, one sparkling with laughter the other with determination. Twice already he had slipped past Sendoh's defenses and scored. Sendoh had scored nothing yet, but it was still too early.

"Ack!" cried Sendoh when Rukawa scored again. "For a beginner, you sure are good at this."

Rukawa's gaze became condescending, but he said nothing. Sendoh put the puck on the hockey table and hit it towards Rukawa's side. Rukawa volleyed it back, but Sendoh blocked it.

At that moment, Mitsui and Kogure went to the hockey table to check on them. "How are things?"

Sendoh opened his mouth to speak, but Rukawa scored again so he groaned instead. The game ended with Rukawa with four points and Sendoh with none. Mitsui commented that Sendoh didn't use his basketball skills there to which Sendoh replied with a sheepish laugh.

And Rukawa's glare became just a wee bit more smug.

"Won't you give up to the Tensai, Ryochin?"

"Never! I will beat you even if it's the last thing I do!"

"Fine! But you will never win against me!"

"Who says? Come on, let's try Asura!"

"Asura? That's child's play!"

"If you're such an expert then let's go!"

"No."

Rukawa stood frozen in front of the DDR machine where Sendoh had dragged him to. He had refused flat out to play this stupid game but Sendoh pulled him.

"Come on, it's fun! I'll pick an easy tune for you!"

Rukawa stiffened (stop the nosebleed, minna). Sendoh said that as if he thought Rukawa had no idea whatsoever of DDR (which was true) and Rukawa was deeply offended. The older boy saw the clenching of Rukawa's jaw and inwardly smiled. His provocation was clearly effective.

Mitsui came back with two servings of nachos and gave one to Kogure. "Arigato," said the vice-captain, smiling at Mitsui.

Man, my stomach is rumbling!

Author takes a lunch break. I can do that, can't I?

While author is taking a lunch break, Sendoh has successfully pulled Rukawa towards the machine. The younger boy looked befuddled at the strange mechanism at his feet. What the hell is this? Am I supposed to do handstands here? Or stand on all fours to press them? How in the world can I win if I don't even know the friggin game?! Ah...I get it! It's all part of Sendoh's stupid plan! Cheat!

But Sendoh's plan only comprised of getting Rukawa to play DDR.

"It's really easy, just step on the arrows when it flashes on the screen," Sendoh explained. "This is just the first mix."

Rukawa thought that Sendoh's tone just went from 'insulting' to 'more insulting' and so, like the noble Japanese young man he was, he stood up straight and glared defiantly at the older boy. True to his word, Sendoh chose a really easy song, "Boom Boom Dollar".

"Ready?"

Before Rukawa could nod, the music blared out whatever nonexistent thoughts he might have had. Sendoh's feet moved in tune to the music while Rukawa could only stare and blink at the bright screen.

"Come on, Rukawa, you're gonna lose if you don't dance!"

Dancing? This is not dancing! This is stupid!

Nevertheless, his feet stepped from one arrow to another.

But the word "Miss!" kept blinking on the screen nonetheless.

Fuck! I'm gonna lose! How the hell do I do this?

Fortunately, not a lot of people were watching them. Well, who is interested in watching two guys battle it out on DDR First Mix?

The author is now back from her lunch break. Not like anyone cares.

Failed.

Damn, I missed it!

"Not bad, Rukawa," said Sendoh, stepping off the dance pad. Rukawa huffed and said nothing. He'd lost to Sendoh three times in a row and it's gonna be difficult to catch up. SCORE: Rukawa-2, Sendoh-4. In order to win, Rukawa had to win in all the next tasks.

* * *

"That's a stupid character! Change it!"

"Who do you think you are to tell me what to do? I want Felicia, OK? Bugger off!"

"Whatever, Ryochin. I'm just saying---"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you're the fucking tensai. I've heard that, now shut up and play!"

"Yoshi!"

"What, still losing, Miyagi?"

"Shut up, Mitsui, and mind your own business!"

"My, my, what a temper we have. Be careful, your hair might fall off."

"Urusai!"

* * *

Didn't I say that I won't go to crowded places without burly bodyguards and crotch protectors?

Rukawa looked around him. Sendoh, Sakuragi, Mitsui, Kogure and Miyagi are not what he called burly, but they did look intimidating enough. And he didn't have crotch protectors; he didn't want to imagine the scenario when he'd enter a store and tell the saleslady that he wanted crotch protectors.

Trust me, there'd be blood involved. Some of it may be mine.

The six walked in pairs, so as to not hog the small space the crowded mall offered. Sendoh and Rukawa were in front, followed by Mitsui and Kogure and then Sakuragi and Miyagi at the rear, bickering about their episode at the arcade.

"Shut up, idiot!"

"Why don't you just admit that I'm better in gaming than you? Ore wa tensai!"

"Tensai, tensai...you're no tensai when it comes to basketball."

"Eh, that's not the point."

"Baka yarou."

Mitsui and Kogure talked about their upcoming test. Kogure was mildly surprised and relieved that Mitsui had at least taken his studies a bit seriously. Well, they were graduating students and Mitsui still had plans to play basketball in college. But before he could play basketball for a college, he had to get in one first.

Sakuragi and Miyagi decided to go back to the arcade for Miyagi's retribution. The four remaining boys headed towards McDonald's to have lunch.

Ooh, was that my stomach again?

"So we'll see you tomorrow at Rukawa's place?"

Rukawa and Sendoh both nodded at Mitsui as the two seniors rose to leave. Mitsui had to run some errands and Kogure headed home to study so Sendoh and Rukawa were alone once more.

His heart was starting to do pirouettes again.

No crickets to sing. Crap, thought Rukawa as the inevitable and uncomfortable prospect of being alone with Sendoh suddenly crushed him. An anvil falling from the top floor of the Empire State Building and landing on his head would have probably produced the same effect.

Regarding Mitsui's parting statement, Rukawa had nothing to say. He never had anything to say, and when he did, rarely was too often. He'd never had a lot of people in his house that frequently. His parents were the only ones who visited him, but they were in America so that didn't happen much either. He wasn't used to having visitors, much less if rivals are among said visitors.

"Want some?" Sendoh asked, offering Rukawa some fries from his outstretched hand. Rukawa barely heard him from all the noise in the restaurant (if you could call it that), but the hand and the fries spoke for itself. He shook his head and continued eating his meal of chicken, rice, Coke and an Oreo McFlurry. Sendoh shrugged and went back to his Big Mac, large fries, Coke and chocolate fudge sundae.

All this talk of food makes my insatiable stomach rumble.

"Anou, Rukawa-kun..." Sendoh began. Tension was really giving him indigestion, and he could barely eat with Rukawa's silence. Oh, stupid, Rukawa was always silent. He was just not used to having someone not talking to him. After all, he usually hung out with Koshino.

"Gomen nasai."

Sorry...he didn't hear apologies often; Sakuragi never apologized, for very obvious reasons. Mitsui and Miyagi never apologized. They were sempai. Kogure apologized, but rarely to him. He thought Sendoh never apologized...until now.

"Friends?" Sendoh asked, offering his fries once more.

Rukawa sighed and mentally rolled his eyes. He hated Sendoh mainly for his skills, but he didn't think there was much that Sendoh should apologize for. Except...

The rookie's lips tightened. Yeah, he did remember. I'm sure you do. But now, looking back, Rukawa almost thought it funny. The childish look on Sendoh's face at his kitchen was something he could get a laugh at in the future.

Oh, really?

The younger boy took a single strip of fried potato. "Never."

* * *

"Cheater! You cheated, you idiot!"

"What? Me? Cheat? You just can't believe that you got ass-kicked by the Tensai!"

"If there's gonna be an ass kicked, it'd be yours, Sakuragi."

"Oh yeah? Then why do you get KO-ed every time we play?"

"Because you're a cheat, that's why!"

"Temeeeeeeeee!"

* * *

Yeah. He needed to see a shrink. Come to think of it, maybe he should see one when he went to America. He heard that America has the best shrinks. I wonder why, he thought.

But right now, Rukawa needed sleep. Very much. Walking home with Sendoh was, to the sarcastic mind, the most interesting thing in the world. He didn't even see the logic there; Sendoh didn't live particularly near his house. Well, he'd never been there, but considering that he studied in Ryonan, and that Rukawa hadn't seen him in the neighborhood...you get the point, eh?

Wow. Rukawa was actually thinking logic.

Rukawa just let his eyelids droop. It wasn't as if he didn't 'sleepwalk'. It was Sendoh's choice if he wanted to follow or not, but there was just no freaking way he'd entertain that idiot on the way home.

They weren't friends, exactly, just as Rukawa had said.

Potsun potsun.

Bota bota.

Poto poto.

Shito shito.

What the--?

Rukawa felt someone pull him somewhere. His eyes snapped open immediately, only to be met by the glittering drops of rain. But he felt dry. Enough.

Oh. Sendoh had pulled us into a waiting shed. Perfect. Lots of people. Great.

True enough, there were around ten people sheltered under the roof of the small waiting shed and more were pouring in from all directions. And a lot of them were Rukawa's fangirls.

If there was something (or someone) Rukawa hated more than Sakuragi (and perhaps Sendoh; he's still debating on that), it was being trapped in a cramped space with a handful of drooling and giggling fangirls.

"What are you doing?" Sendoh cried as Rukawa rushed into the rain. "You'll get sick! Oi!" Then he heard some groans around him and he quickly understood. He hadn't noticed that most of the people in the waiting shed were female.

Sendoh gazed at Rukawa's figure. The scene was eerily picturesque, at least to Sendoh. Rukawa contrasted sharply with the people running towards the shelter of the small waiting shed while he walked away from them. Sendoh thought that Rukawa's skin glowed even a paler and more ghostly silver, beautiful but death-like. But Rukawa's steps were as sure as they can be, like it was not raining.

The Ryonan boy sighed and finally, with much hesitation, ran after Rukawa. "Oi!" he cried, running as carefully and cautiously and fast as he could. The roads were slippery and he couldn't afford having any injury of any kind, ne?

Suddenly realizing that words were having no effect to Rukawa's thick and stubborn skull, Sendoh grabbed his hand and pulled him to a street to their right. Rukawa protested by jerking his hand away, but Sendoh argued, "My house is nearer."

"And what makes you think I'm going to your house?"

Sendoh sighed at Rukawa's irrational stubbornness. "It's just two blocks from here. Your house is farther and it doesn't look like the rain's gonna stop soon."

Rukawa looked up, eyes narrowing at the grey sky. Sendoh was awed by the sight, like Rukawa had just stepped out of a beautiful painting. Sendoh thought everyone looked good under certain weathers, but Rukawa...he looked good in all weathers.

He felt a slight tug at his heart. He presumed it was of envy.

"So? Why do you care?" Rukawa deadpanned, glaring hard at Sendoh.

"Look," said Sendoh, rather annoyed that Rukawa was being a bit childish. "the longer we stand here, the wetter we get. Can we argue about this when we get to my house?"

"No. I'm going my way, you're going yours."

Sendoh rolled his eyes, grabbed Rukawa's arm and dragged him along. Rukawa felt his fingertips digging into his skin and finally gave in knowing that Sendoh was right.

* * *

"This is your fault, you baka!"

"Bakayarou! You were the one who insisted that we play some more!"

"Shit! I'm gonna miss Do As Infinity on Wowow!"

"Okaasan is gonna kill me! Fuck, I forgot the groceries!"

"You're dead, Sakuragi."

"Damn it! You didn't have to rub it in."

* * *

"Catch!"

Rukawa deftly caught the white towel Sendoh had thrown him. They were now in Sendoh's house and it was still raining. Sendoh's parents were still at work, so they were alone again.

Rukawa sat in the kitchen, dripping wet, while Sendoh took a shower somewhere upstairs. He looked around; this kitchen didn't look any different from his own, but it and warmer. Maybe because Sendoh had parents to live with him and eat with him everyday. Rukawa had none. His parents lived in America and visited him once every three months and on Christmas and New Year's. Nobody celebrated the New Year's like the Japanese did, they said. And together with the New Year's, they celebrated his birthday.

He realized that he missed his parents so much.

And that he had to go to America soon.

And see a shrink.

Loud footsteps in the living room told him that Sendoh was done showering.

"Still there?"

Sendoh was putting on his shirt as he sauntered into the kitchen, and Rukawa can't help but admire the little amount of skin and muscle that he had glimpsed before the cloth covered it. Unlike him, Sendoh had a slight tanner skin, a slightly broader chest, and...

No, he wasn't checking Sendoh out.

"Your turn."

"What?"

"Come on, you're dripping wet! You're gonna get sick if you don't shower," Sendoh said, trying to pull Rukawa out of his chair.

But I don't have any clothes! Rukawa wanted to say, but that felt inappropriate so he just shut up and protested silently by planting his butt on the wooden chair. There was no freaking way he'd take a shower in Sendoh's house! He'd rather brave the rain than do so, thank you very much!

"Don't be stubborn, I'm not a pervert," Sendoh scolded, earning a raised eyebrow from Rukawa. "I'm just concerned about you and my mother would kill me if she sees this puddle!"

That was Rukawa's weakness. Any thought of family pushed all his logical thoughts aside.

And so, he gave in. Again.

The desire to see a shrink heightens.

Wait a minute...

Sendoh is concerned about me? Rukawa thought, sending his heart rocketing off to outer space. But gravity pulled it back to Earth, as usual. He's just probably worried that he might get blamed if I get sick.

Rukawa was great at excuses. It just doesn't show.

Sendoh closed the bathroom door with a click, leaving Rukawa in the small but neat bathroom. Rukawa's heart was now trying some extreme sports, which was really interesting because what caused it was his own thoughts. He was actually having a shower at Sendoh's. He was actually gonna undress and get naked with Sendoh just a few meters away. He quickly checked if the bathroom door was locked and breathed a relieved sigh when he found that it was.

Downstairs at the kitchen, Sendoh hummed a song while preparing two cups of hot chocolate. He was very aware of Rukawa showering upstairs. He wondered how Rukawa looked like when he was naked. Maybe like a Greek sculpture, made of alabaster.

Ahem.

Now how am I gonna get out of here? thought Rukawa, standing under the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist. He can't wear his clothes, duh. He should've told Sendoh earlier. But he didn't, so he had two choices left; either he stay in the bathroom and wait for Sendoh to wonder what he was doing and therefore he'd check on him and find out that he didn't have clothes OR he march down to the kitchen, towel around waist and tell Sendoh face to face (and whatever body parts may show) that he didn't have clothes. Downsides: if he chose the first one, he'd be sneezing to death before Sendoh reached him; if he chose the latter...well, I'll leave it to your imagination.

Let's give him time to think.

Sendoh drummed his fingers against the kitchen table. It was still raining like mad outside, and it was weird, because it was in the middle of summer. Both cups of hot chocolate lay smoking on the table, untouched. It's been...a half hour since he left Rukawa in the bathroom. What's taking him so long?

So he pondered.

And pondered.

I gave him a towel, didn't I? Is he that vain? What's he doing anyway? Erm, playing with himself? Sendoh blushed and shivered. No. Bad Akira. Rukawa Kaede isn't so disrespectful as to...do stuff in my house. THAT I know. Then...

Oh shit.

Rukawa sighed. It hadn't taken him a minute to realize that he shouldn't wait. It was Sendoh's intention that he didn't get a cold, right? If he waited for the older boy to come up and 'rescue' him from his little problem, he'd definitely get sick. Yes, it was a little rude, but...hey, it's for everybody's good.

He reluctantly stepped out of the bathroom, head bowed as to watch his steps. Tiles were slippery when wet, you know.

"Rukawa-kun! Gomen!"

Sendoh came running up the stairs and barged into his bedroom just as Rukawa was getting out of the bathroom. What a lovely scene.

"Ehehehe..." Sendoh was NOT blushing.

Well, at least I didn't have to go downstairs, said Rukawa to himself.

It's not like I haven't seen him half-naked..., debated Sendoh in an attempt to calm his nerves. It worked perfectly. He rummaged through his clothes, not really knowing what he was doing. He heard the bed squeak lightly and concluded that Rukawa sat on it.

Uh-oh, I think I feel a nosebleed coming on. Sendoh needs tissue, guys!

Trying very, very hard not to think of that very nice picture of Rukawa on his bed, Sendoh pulled out a clean blue shirt (he loved blue. Matched his eyes) and loose black jogging pants. He blushed again as he pulled the top section of his drawer out, the one that kept his...

Rukawa saw the contents of the drawer and his eyes widened. Shower's enough. Clothes are enough. But I am NOT going to wear his underwear!

Rukawa took the articles of clothing on the table. "These are enough, thank you," he said, much to Sendoh's relief. Rukawa took great effort to say 'thank you' to Sendoh, but it was common courtesy so he had to.

The older boy realized was to wear HIS pants without anything underneath.

Damn hormones.

It took him great courage and willpower to stop the impending nosebleed. Thank Kami-sama, it worked.

"Er...I'll wait for you downstairs," Sendoh quickly said, putting his best nonchalant expression (smile included). He closed the door of his bedroom and clutched at his chest which had suddenly become tight. What the hell is wrong with me? I've seen a lot of guys butt naked...why am I reacting this way with Rukawa?

Sigmund Freud was kind enough to provide some explanation to his behavior (and Rukawa's previous). For your assignment, please read his theory of constitutional bisexuality and relate it to this stupid fic.

* * *

Sorry this chapter took so long. I was kinda stuck in the middle of it and college life is not as I expected it to be. Thanks to my professor for that Freud stuff there. Gave me inspiration. Oh, and it's not true that when you get caught in the rain, you'll get colds. The logic there is...well, you're wet anyway. I just want to give Sendoh reason to make Rukawa do what he wanted. Hehehe. Anyway, I'll really finish this, I swear! 


	9. The Seventh Task

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Damn has deleted my account. I am therefore reposting this fic in this account.

I think a lot of people would agree with me in saying that this fic is getting really stale, ne? Stupid blockies...go away will you??!!

Yeah, so this chapter is quite mild, I think. Looooooong, dragging and mild. I'll try to post the next (and, for me, more interesting) chapter ASAP. Just four or five more chappies left after this! Wheeee!!!

* * *

The Seventh Task: Hot Stuff

* * *

The two boys sat in Sendoh's living room, watching a silly game show and drinking more hot chocolate. The rain was still pouring hard, and much as Rukawa wanted to go home right now (because of some perfectly valid reasons), he couldn't. He'll have to wait until the rain stopped which, by the looks of things, wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

It was four thirty in the afternoon.

The two boys sat on either end of the couch, pretending to watch that silly game show. They were really bored; honestly, aren't there any good shows on Saturday afternoons?

Sendoh kept throwing quick glances over to Rukawa, watching him from the corner of his eye. The younger boy looked more bored than ever and it looked as though he would fall asleep anytime. Sendoh, however, didn't really care about his face right now; his attention was on the fact that Rukawa was wearing his clothes. He can't get over it somehow and felt like any of Rukawa's fans in the given situation. He felt an affinity with him in a sense and swore that he will not wear those clothes again but instead will hang them on his bedroom wall.

Thankfully, before he could delve into the more perverted side of his mind, the phone rang.

"Moshi moshi."

"Akira!"

"Okaasan!"

"Listen; your father and I probably won't be able to go home tonight. It's raining too hard. We're at your aunt's, so if you need to call us, you already know the number. Just cook yourself some dinner, OK?"

"I've got someone over."

"Oh...then feed her too!"

"Him. Rukawa Kaede, the Shohoku guy I told you about?"

"Oh. The one who never smiles? Pity, he's such a nice-looking boy."

"Yeah, that one."

"Well, make sure the house is still standing when we come home."

"Sure, mom. Take care. Ja!"

"You too. Ja!"

Sendoh sighed and walked off to the kitchen to start with dinner. There was a great chance that the younger boy would be staying over for dinner AT LEAST and the thought of having Rukawa in his house, wearing his clothes, and eating their food was...weird.

Rukawa stared blankly at the TV and yawned. He looked exactly like my Microsoft Office Assistant right now, cheek resting on his hand, eyes heavy- lidded. He quickly glanced at the window and frowned; the stupid rain prolonged his stay at Sendoh's house. He was ready to curse the gods anytime now, but it won't change a thing.

Ramen was perfect during rainy weather, thought Sendoh. Fortunately, they had a stock of instant ramen; he'll just add toppings to customize it. It's been a while since he had a nice, hot bowl of real ramen and decided that he'll ask his father to cook some for him one day. For the meantime, instant will have to do.

Exasperated, Rukawa stood up and followed Sendoh in the kitchen. He had to go home now and change into more comfortable clothes and by comfortable, he meant HIS own. It felt different wearing other people's clothes, much more so because it was Sendoh's.

"I'm going now."

Sendoh frowned. "Why? It's still raining cats and dogs!"

Rukawa shrugged. "I just have to."

"Won't you at least stay for dinner? My umbrella's broken."

"Then I'll just have to do without an umbrella."

Sendoh sighed at Rukawa's stubbornness. He was seriously considering hitting Rukawa upside the head and tying him up on a chair just to put some sense in him, but that would put more ahem hentai ahem thoughts in his spiky head. "No, you don't," he said, with the most serious look on his face. He pushed Rukawa back to the living room and onto the couch. "If you leave that couch, I'll back out."

Rukawa stayed calm and retorted, "That just proves that you lose."

Sendoh bent down and brought his face exactly an inch from Rukawa's. "You wouldn't be able to prove that then, would you?" he taunted, grinning mischievously at the now-blushing boy. "Now, why don't you just wait for the rain to stop, eh? I'm sure that won't be too much."

Rukawa had to then admit that Sendoh had a point, although he proved that by far-fetched means.

"Want some tea?" Sendoh offered. "We ran out of chocolate, hehe."

The younger boy nodded.

The host busied himself with making hot tea (and ramen) for his guest. Now that the problem with Rukawa has been partially solved, he only had to concern himself with making dinner and waiting for the weather to get better.

* * *

"Hey, I'm getting wet!"

"This is my umbrella, stupid! You should thank me for sharing this with you!"

"It's not my fault, is it?"

"It is, you baka. If you brought enough money, you leech, you'd be dry! You still owe me, remember?"

"Teme! You're such a selfish jerk!"

"Me? Look who's talking!"

"Lemme hold the damn umbrella, Ryochin. I'm taller!"

"No way! Go buy your own!"

* * *

"Itadakimasu!"

The ramen served its purpose well; the rain made it colder and the warmth was just perfect for the temperature. It also went well with tea. Overall, the meal made them feel like they were in ancient Japan. All that was lacking was mood music.

Rukawa put down his bowl on the table and sat back up, back stiff and straight. He was getting annoyed because the rain was as hard as ever and his chances of going home ASAP were really slim. Which puts him in a major problem because it would mean he had to sleep over.

No way that's gonna happen.

It was five forty-three.

The author yawned.

So did Rukawa.

"Gochisosama!"

When Sendoh put down his ramen bowl, he didn't find Rukawa in his seat, but in the kitchen, washing his dishes. The Shohoku ace really lived up to his reputation of being speedy. "Hey!" Sendoh called out, trying to stop Rukawa from washing his dishes. "You sit down there; I'll do that."

Rukawa glared at him and defiantly put the bowl in the dish drier. "Too late," he said, walking past Sendoh and plopping back down onto the living room couch.

Shrugging, Sendoh started to wash his own set of dishes.

And the author does the same. Excuse me.

* * *

"Oi! You're hogging my umbrella!"

"Am not!"

"Are to!"

"Hurry up, Ryochin! I thought you were fast."

"I am, but it's difficult to move when a dumb redheaded monkey is taking up my umbrella!"

"Stop complaining, shorty! Look! My house is just around that corner. Hurry!"

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

A music show was on TV. Rukawa had learned to calm his heart and stop it from doing various acrobatics, thankfully. The blanket that Sendoh had lent him kept his body warm, but he still kept on fidgeting in his seat because...oh, you know why.

It was seven eighteen.

Sendoh looked out the window. The rain did not decrease it's intensity nor increase it. It was still raining as hard as before. No lightning, no thunder...just cats and dogs.

Where I am, there is storm signal number one.

"Eh?"

Sendoh blinked as a round, solid object came in contact with his shoulder and blinked once more when he realized that it was Rukawa's head. The younger boy had fallen asleep so quickly. Sendoh chuckled at Rukawa slumbering so peacefully, mouth half-open, eyes shut, chest rising and falling in relaxed breathing.

Sleeping over seemed to be the only possible way then. He didn't have the heart to wake him up. As in he was kinda afraid that Rukawa would give him a nice punch if he did.

AAAAAAACHOOOO!

Oops, sorry about that. That was me.

Ever so carefully, Sendoh reached around and pulled the blanket over the both of them, but the motion sent Rukawa's head onto Sendoh's lap. Sendoh froze as he heard Rukawa groan and shift, but thank goodness the sleeping boy remained asleep.

What a very nice position to be in, eh?

Sendoh blushed thoroughly, petrified of their current situation. He thanked the gods first that Rukawa was facing away from his, ahem, crotch, then pushed his luck by praying that Rukawa wouldn't move. He could feel his warm breath against his cotton-clad thigh and it felt ticklish, causing his face to heat up further.

I could use some heat. Brr.

But when he looked at Rukawa's face, he calmed down. It was really rare to see Rukawa this relaxed; sure, he didn't look openly hostile, but his aura radiated tension. When Rukawa slept, a different sort of calmness was reflected on his face, not smug but peaceful. Sometimes, he did look stupid and idiotic; no, make that most of the time. The last time Sendoh saw him like this was...two weeks ago. It seemed a long time ago already. So much had happened since then.

Smiling, Sendoh carefully twisted slightly to the side to rest his head on his arm and closed his eyes. Rain all you want, I don't care, he said to himself before completely surrendering to the pull of stupor.

Awwwwww, aren't they cute?

Now this is the part that I love: the morning after.

Sunday morning was as beautiful as ever, the sun still smiling warmly at the earth and everything in between, birds chirping a good morning song. Sunlight poured through the windows and unfortunately through Rukawa's closed eyes too.

Annoyed once more because of disturbed sleep, Rukawa groaned and rubbed his eyes then opened them slightly. Seeing foreign surroundings, he rubbed them again, but they didn't change into his bedroom. Then he noticed that his pillows felt strange, slightly harder but soft to an extent. Much like...

Thighs.

Sendoh's thighs.

Kuso!

Immediately, he sat up, or tried to, for the motion sent him rolling onto the floor, pulling the blanket with him. The yanking movement woke Sendoh up with a grunt.

Rukawa rubbed his lower back. He was fully awake now and so was Sendoh. "Good morning!" Sendoh cheerfully exclaimed.

Rukawa glared at him. "You didn't wake me up," he deadpanned. Yeah, and you let me sleep on your lap! What kind of a person are you, dumbass?

Sendoh sweatdropped. "Ehe, sorry. It's just that you seemed to be sleeping soundly already that I didn't bother," he explained, scratching his head. His hair was slightly disheveled now, and the spikes that he, for some reason, kept even if he was in his own house were mostly down.

It was only then that Rukawa noticed.

"You look stupid," he said, rising and stretching his limbs. He looked at the clock and saw that it was five minutes past nine.

Mitsui said they'd be there at nine.

Shoot.

"We have to go."

"A little talkative, aren't we?"

* * *

"Anybody home?"

"Kitsune, you dumbass, wake up! Stupid foxes shouldn't make geniuses wait!"

"Oi, Rukawa open up!"

"What the hell could he be doing?"

Mitsui, Kogure, Sakuragi and Miyagi stood outside Rukawa's gate, waiting for the house's owner to come and open it. Mitsui rang the doorbell about twenty times, but still there was no answer.

"I think he's still sleeping."

"But it's nine-eighteen already. He knows we'd be here at nine."

"Yeah. He was never late for a task."

"Except for the..."

"Right."

An almost-laughing silence hung in the air as a mysterious wind blew to emphasize it. A grey cat passed by and stretched out a few feet from them then went on its way, skipping happily.

Mitsui blinked.

Miyagi blinked.

Kogure blinked.

Sakuragi blinked.

Then the furious ringing of the doorbell continued.

"Rukawa!"

"Maybe he's got diarrhea and he's been spending three hours in the toilet."

"Disgusting."

Here we go again with the theorizing.

"Maybe he's doing yoga."

"Err?"

"I don't think he's sleeping."

"Maybe he's listening to his stupid walkman max volume."

"But he would've known we're here! It's nine twenty."

Kogure chanced to look at Rukawa's front door. "Uh, guys, I don't think he's in there."

"WHAT?"

"Look, his front door's locked from the outside with a padlock."

The mysterious wind blew again.

"Could it be...that Rukawa isn't really a good boy?"

"No. Maybe he got stuck in the rain yesterday and stayed over at a relative's house for the night."

"He doesn't have relatives in Kanagawa. His parents are in the US."

"At a friend's house then?"

"No way. The closest thing to a friend that Rukawa has is Sakuragi."

"NANI?! I resent that!"

"Sendoh."

"What are you talking about?"

Kogure pointed to two tall figures running towards them. "There."

Ooh, hentai cogwheels starting to work.

Four jaws dropped.

"Er, hi guys! Sorry we're really late!" greeted Sendoh sheepishly the instant the two of them reached Rukawa's gate.

Rukawa raised an eyebrow at the four boys looking at Sendoh and him. What's the deal?

"Sendoh."

"Sendoh?"

"Damn, Sendoh."

"He's wearing Sendoh's shirt."

"And pants."

"Maybe he's wearing Sendoh's und—"

Sendoh and Rukawa blushed.

"My god! Sendoh?!"

* * *

After Sendoh had sorted out this misunderstanding with the grannies, er, the Shohoku guys with a lot of difficulty and Rukawa had showered and changed into his own clothes, and the author had gotten over her blockies, we now move on to the seventh damn task!

Man, when will this stupidity end?!

Sakuragi stared hungrily at the two neat pyramids of hotdog sandwiches on the kitchen counter. Even with all those ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, wasabi, and chili powder...those hotdogs still look yummy, he thought, licking his lips and rubbing his hands together.

"First to eat all of the hotdog sandwiches win," Kogure explained. "Only a 500 ml bottle of water will be provided."

Sendoh blanched. The hotdogs looked very much unfit for human consumption (thank you very much, MS Word thesaurus for providing us with a very nice expletive there) and smoking hot. He glanced over to Rukawa who was trying to project his Super Rukawa Icy Glare at the hotdogs to cool them down a bit.

But they were stronger. Tough luck.

Rukawa took a big bite out of the first hotdog. If he finished this one, he'd have five more to finish. Hey, this doesn't taste too bad.

Sendoh, not one to be outdone, followed suit.

Smoke shot out of his ears.

If this was anime, Sendoh would have blown fire right now. Wait, this IS anime. Baka.

Rukawa quickly shot a look at Sendoh and mentally smirked. Hehe, looks like he's got a chance to take his throne back. Mwahahahahahahaha!

Wait, Rukawa doesn't laugh like that. Sorry, it was me.

Sakuragi-tachi gaped as they watched the two red-faced boys chomp down the fiery hotdogs as fast as they can. Sakuragi was trying his best not to laugh. By the way, he already has tons of blackmail material against Rukawa. Maybe one of these days, he'll show them to Haruko. Hehehehehe...

Fired by the desire to beat Sendoh, Rukawa took the last bite off his last hotdog, glaring in triumph at Sendoh. He drank the water in one gulp, his tongue burning with the hot aftertaste of chili.

Sendoh fanned his mouth as he put down the hotdog he was eating.Well, at least I didn't have to finish that.

Sakuragi laughed and started finishing off Sendoh's hotdogs. There were still three left, not counting Sendoh's unfinished one.

"Ah! Water! Water!"

"Do'ahou."

"Teme!"

* * *

Yeah, this chapter doesn't have much happening in it. Sorry, I was just really pissed. Anyway, the next chapter will come sometime at the end of July or the beginning of August. Exams are looming...scary. 


	10. The Eighth Task

AUTHOR'S NOTES: College is a bitch. Well, anyway, I'll keep posting until it's finished. It's almost done, anyway. Now I'm starting to regret that I didn't make it a oneshot. Hehe.

WARNING: Very foul language. References to porn. And in case you still didn't know up to this point, this whole fic will contain SHOUNEN AI. If you're grossed out by two guys staring at each other with those sparkly eyes (and pastel background), I've got none of that here.

* * *

The Eighth Task: Fighting the Bleeding

* * *

Another bloody week.

The match against Shoyo was scheduled two weeks from now.

So what?

It was up to the series to tell of that.

"Micchy! I think I found something!"

"Keep your voice down, dumbass, you're embarrassing us!"

"Sakuragi, trust me, I've watched that and it sucks."

"Oh, OK."

"Hey, here's a good one."

"Yeah!"

"No, I think this suits them more."

"Good point, but this one has mind-blowing action."

"True, but the actresses here are better."

"Hey, I've got a copy of that."

Everyone turned to Kogure who was still wearing that schoolboy smile of his.

"Oh my God!"

"Mitsui, what have you done!"

"Kogure?! That is not you! Kogure doesn't watch this---"Glares from people, specifically the owner, arrive in nice little packages (with ribbons even!), "stuff! Kogure blushes at mention of the word kiss! Kogure nosebleeds at the word sex! Kogure dies from porn! No, you are not Kogure!"

"I'm a guy too!"

"But you fainted when you announced the fourth task!"

Kogure turned a very deep shade of red. Crimson. Scarlet. Maroon. Whatever. "Errrr...don't ask."

* * *

Rukawa stood in front of the machine, glaring at it sharply. A handful of tokens were in his hands, glittering in the flashing lights of the arcade. It was seven thirty in the evening and there were quite a lot of people in the arcade. He had practiced for the Shoyo game earlier and...it was up to the series to tell of that.

Checking for any fangirls and not finding any, he stepped up onto the platform of the machine.

It's time for DDR Revenge.

* * *

"You're underage!"

Once again, the Sakuragi Gundan got thrown out of the pachinko parlor. After muttering various curses, Youhei and co. walked away.

"So...what shall we do now?"

"Eat?"

"Let's just go to the arcade," Youhei proposed, much to Takamiya's dismay.

To the arcade they went, skipping happily like schoolgirls, throwing petals in their path. Err...typo.

Youhei skidded to a stop. "Wait a minute, isn't that Rukawa?"

CLEARED!

Rukawa smirked. After spending the handful and one (for the last test) tokens on DDR, he finally became Master of DDR! Hurray! _Well, I'd beat Sendoh on that one._

Too late for that though.

Putting an extra smug expression on his lovely face, he quietly exited the arcade and failed to notice four goldfishes—err, guys watch him leave.

The Sakuragi Gundan crept out of their hiding place and gaped some more.

"Man, that guy's got everything! Looks, basketball, and now DDR!"

"I wish I'd brought my camera."

"Don't tell Hanamichi."

* * *

"So, when shall we tell them?"

"About your vast collection of porn?"

"No! About the task!"

"Oh. Just kidding!"

"Sakuragi?"

"I've got a great idea! Let's not tell them yet. Let's just tell them on the day of the task!"

"Know what? That's actually a good idea. That way they wouldn't be able to prepare."

"They wouldn't be able to prepare either way, baka. And it's Sendoh's task."

"But still! You'd see their true colors!"

"And he doesn't know which task we picked."

"I wonder how Rukawa will react."

"I wonder if he'll react."

"Who knows? Kogure watches porn."

"Hey!"

* * *

One little dunce went out one day over the ring and far away. Another dunce said, "Baka, baka." And—

"You fools!" Akagi delivered another couple of Gorilla punches on each of the dunces' heads before the two could even start a Freestyle Fighting Match (courtesy of the Tendo Dojo). "Quit fighting and concentrate on practice!"

The captain sighed. It was really a pain in the...neck when those two wrangle. Sure, they were excellent players, but it would help the team a great deal if they didn't fight a lot.

Kogure gently placed a hand on Akagi's shoulder. "Don't worry, it's not like those two would kill each other."

"Sometimes I wish they would."

_Ow..._

Rukawa woke with a start and stared at the poor lamppost that he just ran right into. As usual, he had been 'sleepwalking' (walking while asleep) to Kogure's house for the Eighth Task. He didn't have a clue what the Eighth Task was, but he definitely prayed to the gods that it wasn't one of Sakuragi's inane ones.

It was ten PM on a school day and damn, here he was, walking along a silent street to kick Sendoh's firm butt. Oh, another typo. Kick Sendoh's butt firmly.

Sounds reasonable.

In a train far, far away—OK, not so far, far away—our beloved Ryonan boy yawned. Like Rukawa, he also received a call from Sakuragi in the dead of night, waking him from his precious sleep. Therefore, at ten PM on a school day, here he was, sitting in the last train.

_Now how am I going to go home? Maybe I could just crash at Rukawa's place?_

_Or not._

Somewhere, a sleepwalking someone tripped.

* * *

It was eerily quiet that night at Kogure's house. Perhaps because it was really late and nobody wanted to disturb anybody because they were nice and polite little boys. Not.

Actually, it was quiet because the judges thought it would be more interesting if they kept mum about it. That, and Kogure's parents were out.

So, Rukawa and Sendoh sat down on the couch quite hesitantly and waited. But all they got was a folded piece of paper from Sakuragi.

"Don't open it yet before the show starts," Mitsui said, winking at them both.

_Show?_

_What show?_

They found out a second later.

Both boys hurriedly opened the slip of paper.

_First to nosebleed and/or have a "tight-pants problem" loses._

I guess I have to try my very best not to make this an R thing. And I think that's gonna be quite hard (no pun intended) since they're watching PORN!

Rukawa went dokidoki again. _Damn! I thought I was way over this freaking dokidoki stage!_ He caught Sendoh staring at him with his blue eyes so big you can see the little streaks on his iris and the veins in his sclera so Rukawa snorted, crossed his arms and shifted his gaze at the screen. He'd watched a lot of films like this before, and he had been unaffected. The worse thing that porn did to him was squirm and twitch a bit. He'd win this task.

Sendoh however was cursing whatever spirit possessed him to write that down as a task. He now realized how embarrassing the situation would be. During the time he came up with that task, he was only imagining what Rukawa's reaction would be in such situations. Which was, as he observed now, nil.

The two drew their attention back to the writhing figures on the screen. Rukawa changed his mind; this flick could do more than make him squirm. _I hope not, _he thought. Sendoh was trying NOT to resort to biting his lip to stop his nose from bleeding. The first scene of the movie already has some graphic porn action, and yet they haven't shown the actors' and actress's faces yet.

The judges were whispering at the back.

"You watch this stuff, Kogure?"

"Why, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I just didn't know you liked this type of movies."

"You know...hormones and stuff. Some of those are my dad's, he passed them on to me. But he borrows them sometimes when he needs a little...inspiration. Those movies are great, by the way."

"Man, you're freaking me out!"

"Ehe..."

Sendoh breathed a relieved sigh. The first scene, which lasted for about twenty to thirty minutes of bumping and grinding and making noises, was over. His nose hadn't bled a single bloody drop and he didn't have a campsite in his pants. But he sighed too soon.

The camera now zoomed into the actress's face and it definitely made Sendoh drop his jaw way underground and I'm not saying anything about eyes.

I hope you didn't guess it, but I think you did. Yes, the actress bore an uncanny resemblance to Rukawa. Just make the Rukawa eyes sultrier (like straight out of bed after a wild night of bonking) and the hair longer, add breasts, add 'fe' to 'male genitalia' and you've got twins.

Sendoh threw his head towards Rukawa, then back to the screen, then to Rukawa again, then to the screen and he blinked. And gulped. _Wait a minute..._

Rukawa was quietly snoring beside him.

Then he had a weird, out-of-the-blue vision of Rukawa in the porn movie instead of the actress. And an odd addition of Mitsui and himself taking the place of the two actors. (Oh my goodness, a SENMITRU!!!!!! Author faints for a second.)

And the heavens opened up and blood gushed forth from Sendoh's nose.

The quiet judges sprang to life immediately. Sakuragi whacked the sleeping Rukawa upside the head to wake him up, thus angering Rukawa and making him retaliate with a punch and a "Do'ahou." Miyagi handed Sendoh a box of tissue. Mitsui turned off the TV, earning a groan of disappointment from Miyagi. Kogure smiled. "Well, I guess this task goes to Rukawa."

Sendoh was too busy cleaning up to hear. He knew anyway.

"Now, get out so we can check out Megane's collection!" said Sakuragi, pushing the two (rather roughly, I might add) down the stairs and out of the front door, adding a little goodbye wave at the end.

Once outside, Rukawa fought the urge to gloat at his victory. He looked over to Sendoh, who was still bleeding a little bit. Sendoh was trying to avoid Rukawa's eyes for reasons you already know. He was still having afterimages of that thing with Mitsui and Rukawa.

Rukawa shot one last look at Sendoh, put his hands in his pockets and started to walk away. He was getting really sleepy and he needed to get home as soon as possible.

Sendoh watched as his junior went away. _Damn. Since when did I have YAOI thoughts about that guy?_

* * *

"Hey, don't we all need to sleep?"

"Just one more movie!"

"Yeah!"

"But it's already two o'clock in the morning! And we have practice tomorrow!"

"It's your fault anyway, Kogure."

"What?! My fault?!"

"Just go to sleep, Megane-kun!"

"Yeah, we'll be fine by ourselves."

"Alright. But I am not going to save you three from Akagi's wrath."

"Yeah, yeah. Oyasumi nasai!"

"Oyasumi nasai!"

"Oyasumi nasai!"

"Oyasumi."

"Hey, are you two thinking what I'm thinking?"

"What are you thinking?"

"If it's a wild YAOI threesome, Mitsui, I'll pass."

"It's not that, Shorty! But we could wait until he's deep in Dreamland then we open up a few buttons..."

"Oh, you are so evil."

* * *

Cinnamon eyes were coaxed open by Thursday morning sunlight. Kogure tried to rub his eyes and get the sleep out of them, but no matter how hard he pulled at his hands, they wouldn't budge. _What in the world--?_

Puzzled and now fully awake, he turned his head and found:

his limbs tied to each of the four bedposts,

Mitsui's, Miyagi's and Sakuragi's sleeping half-naked bodies clinging to him in the most incriminating positions ever,

their shirts, including his pajama top, tying him to the bedposts, and

the TV off, thank goodness.

_Kami-sama! What happened?! Did we---?!_

A body shifted and he found himself looking straight into Mitsui's I-just-had-sex gaze. "Had a good sleep?"

the three-pointer asked, his voice hoarse and low. He got up and stretched and Kogure's eyes widened just a teeny bit more and a deep blush appeared on his whole face. "Errrr...Mitsui..."

"Ohayo, Mitsui, Kogure," Miyagi greeted. "Why the red face?" he asked Kogure, you please untie me, please?"

"Oh, right, right. Sheesh, who forgot to untie him last night?"

"Who was the last one with him?"

"What's going on here?" Sakuragi rose. Mitsui finished untying Kogure's arms and Miyagi with the legs. "Ohayo!"

"Uhm, can anyone please explain what happened last night?" Kogure asked.

Sakuragi gasped. "You mean you don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Kogure was getting more frantic. "What happened? Did we---all of us--?" he stammered.

"What?" Mitsui asked. "Say it, Kogure, you're not making any sense!"

"Did we have an orgy last night?" Kogure squeaked.

"What do you think?"

"Oh god. We did?!"

And at that, the other three burst out laughing, holding their sides. "Nah, it was just a joke by Mitsui," Miyagi explained, being the first to recover from the laughing fit.

"Oh, I am so going to kill you!"

Nobody even bothered to look at the wall clock.

TBC

* * *

Sorry for that dumb thing there. Yes, they did wake up late. It depends if I'm gonna grill them or not. Hehe. Anyway, if by any chance this fic gets deleted by , you can continue reading this at my site (link on profile, I think). And sorry for the long wait! I'll try to finish the whole thing in time for RuSen day. Is that too long? 


	11. The Ninth Task

Author's Notes: HAPPY RUSEN DAY! Wow, two-year hiatus. So sorry! Well, I'm living without my own compy, so imagine that. I'm typing this at a cafe. . Mind you, this is half-cooked, meaning I wrote this within a week of posting, beta-ed only by my younger sister.

It might be better for first time readers to read (the earlier chapters of) my fic at my website (link on profile, I think) because the formatting is better there. I think. Oh well.

Anyway, two years is time enough, so I won't keep you. Thanks for those who waited and my sincere apologies to you. Cheers!

* * *

The Ninth Task: Unlucky at Cards, Lucky at...

* * *

Ayako gave up watching the gym doors anxiously for any sign of four of Shohoku's playing members. It was five minutes before the sign of classes, and she doubted that any of them will show up. 

All the other members of the Shohoku basketball team were accounted for. Akagi called in sick, Rukawa came early, and everyone else was present.

Ayako knew that Mitsui, Miyagi, and Sakuragi were not the most reliable members of the team, but she knew all of them loved basketball sa much and were all determined to be the best , for their own reasons. She was particularly disappointed at Kogure, who, as Vice-captain, she expected to show up in the absence of Akagi.

She didn't worry about their safety. It was impossible to harass those boys. But she knew there was something strange going on. It all began some weeks ago, when Sakuragi and Rukawa (sworn enemies) started hanging out. Then Kogure and the most troublesome duo, Mitsui and Miyagi.

Of course, the incident at Danny's was not to be forgotten. It was the strangest thing she ever saw.

But now is not the time to go back there, and Ayako is not the person to discuss it. And so we shall quietly exit the scene.

Rukawa was alone at one end of the gym, practicing his shots. He too was aware of the significance absence of noise in the gym, and he was comfortable and happy that he will have a long, peaceful and productive practice. ALONE, as he always dreamed.

Team Shohoku reserved the gym for morning practice that lovely Thursday morning, but most of the playing members were absent, so Anzai-sensei left and Ayako made them do drills.

It was Rukawa's Christmas. (Er, yes, you are still reading the same fic.)

Twenty minutes passed.

Thirty.

Forty.

Forty-five.

And then Rukawa was bored. He was bored playing quietly alone, shooting hoops, dodging air. He was too accustomed to hearing the annoying voices of Captain Akagi, Sakuragi, Miyagi, and Mitsui. And he was too bored to deny it.

How lonely, the life of Rukawa.

He shot a (supposedly inviting) glance at one of his fellow freshmen at the bench, but said fellow freshman was so scared shitless of Rukawa that he looked away and acted as though cheering for his teammates was more interesting and productive than playing with Rukawa.

/Ch. That's why you're a benchwarmer, chicken./

* * *

"Two minutes until bell!" 

"This is all your fault, Mitsui!"

"MY fault? Who did not set the alarm clock? Who took thirty minutes in the shower? Who--?"

"It's that stupid kitsune's fault that we slept late!"

"We're almost there!"

"Uhm, guys, I think we took a wrong turn."

Miyagi skidded to a stop, followed by Mitsui, Sakuragi, and Kogure. Instead of Shohoku High School, they found themselves at a dead end. With a dead rat to emphasize the dead-ness.

"We are so dead."

Everyone turned to Kogure, who was slowly backing away.

"Shortcut, huh?"

"Er, sorry."

* * *

Sendoh Akira was not enjoying the lovely Thursday morning. Nor did he enjoy the lovely Wednesday night. 

He was troubled. Troubled as a teenager could be. And without sleep too, as a troubled teenager should be.

/I mean, it's OK, right? It's not like it's permanent or something. It was just a random thought. I am not regularly fantasizing about Rukawa./

Sendoh was not reassured. He remembered the time when Rukawa slept over, and...the other times, and he was sorely troubled. He got out of the train looking like a sleepless, troubled teenager. It's amazing he didn't forget to style his hair.

_Give it up,_ said the more competitive part of his psyche. _It doesn't matter if you fantasize about Rukawa; just beat him._

/But does THAT matter? I don't even know why I want to beat him./

_Well, because of me, stupid. You are Sendoh Akira. Whatever happens, Rukawa Kaede will not equal you in basketball. THAT'S what matters._

Still not feeling reassured but touched by his mind's loyaltym Sendoh went to school with three-quarters of a smile on his face.

* * *

The morning passed quickly, and soon it was afternoon. Nothing much happened to the chosen citizens of Kanagawa. 

Anzai-sensei cheerfully dismissed the basketball team early, to the delight of everyone, most of all those who missed the morning practice.

"Lucky for you Akagi's sick," Ayako scolded, giving each of the absentees a farewell gift of a Special Fan of Doom Hit. She glared reproachfully at Kogure. He pretended not to notice and followed Mitsui and the rest outside.

"Yeah, right, and we had to deal with her wrath most of the afternoon," Sakuragi complained.

"I had to face her wrath for most of the day," Miyagi said, feeling for lumps on various parts of his head. "Damn, I might get a tumor."

"Oh no, she might have hit your pituitary gland! You're doomed to be short forever!" Mitsui joked. Naturally.

Miyagi pretended to reel. "Uuuuh...my memory...I...who are you?"

"That is so lame, Miyagi, coming from you."

"Rukawa!" Mitsui called to the sleep-cycling boy a few yards behind. "Still alive?" In response...well, there was no response. Duh.

"Wonder if he's gonna get a driver's license," Miyagi said.

Kogure looked at his watch. "Do you think Sendoh's there already?"

Mitsui watched Rukawa's reaction. There was a slight, almost invisible movement of eyelids. He smirked.

"I heard Sendoh's dating someone," Mitsui said casually, watching Rukawa's movements from the corner of his eye. There was a slight, almost invisible trembling of the hand. He smirked again.

"Why don't you steal the girl from under his nose, Rukawa? That would piss him off, more than these stupid challenges of yours," Miyagi suggested.

"Great, then Haruko will be mine!" Sakuragi gleefully roared.

"I don't know, she'll probably kill herself before she considers you, Sakuragi," said Miyagi.

"TEMEEE!"

"I don't think Sendoh's dating anyone, Mitsui," Kogure said. "Where did you get that anyway?"

"Around," replied Mitsui. "Yeah, maybe it's wrong. Oh well." He saw a slight, almost invisible relaxing of the hand.

Mitsui grinned.

* * *

By afternoon, Sendoh had forgotten whatever it was that troubled him. He radiated a somewhat relaxed, carefree and victorious aura. Unfortunately, he transferred his negative feelings to those around him and he left the Ryonan gym half full of tense and confused people. 

He reached the CC Park (name concealed for privacy reasons) at sunset and found the Shohoku people unknowingly terrifying people with their presence. Kogure waved at him. "Know a place where we can play undisturbed?" the Shohoku Vice-captain asked.

"Sure. Behind that arcade, Tanaka Pizza. They have tables outside," replied Sendoh.

"Perfect. Hey, Rukawa, let's go," Mitsui said. He followed Kogure and they talked about...basketball stuff.

Miyagi and Sakuragi were behind them, talking about...basketball stuff.

Sendoh and Rukawa were last and they were...not talking.

Mitsui bent down to tie his shoes. He planned to eavesdrop on Sendoh and Rukawa's nonexistent conversation. Sendoh and Rukawa went past.

Mitsui and Kogure resumed walking.

* * *

People stared as the six boys sat around a table outside Tanaka Pizza. Girls giggled and Sakuragi thought the giggles were directed at him. 

"Sorry, girls, my heart has been captured by the lovely Haruko Akagi," he said to anyone who dared to approach.

Mitsui and Miyagi coughed.

"Today we play cards."

Rukawa tried not to smile. Not much effort, great success. He was a master of solitaire and Japanese poker. He came up with the task.

Sendoh tried not to smile. Great effort, average success. He was a master of Western card games.

"Rules are simple, Kogure said. "I will deal cards face up. When you have the same value, like, King, you say the name of your high school. First to say it gives his cards to opponent. Less cards at the end of the game wins," Kogure explained. "Hehe, just learned it last week."

"Geek," muttered Sakuragi, Miyagi, and Mitsui simultaneously.

Rukawa and Sendoh remained composed. They looked at each other with their interpretation of a serene poker face.

Kogure started dealing. Ten of diamonds. Three of diamonds. Three of--

"Ryonan." Sendoh gave his cards to Rukawa. Kogure dealed again. Card after card fell, and eyes were alert.

Jack of clubs. Nine of clubs. Ten of hearts. Ten--

"Shoho-"

"Ryonan." Sendoh smiled brightly and gave his cards to Rukawa. Rukawa scowled microscopically. /Still early,/ he thought.

Six of spades. Eight of diamonds. Four of clubs. Ace of spades. Ace--

There was an almost simultaneous utterance of "Shohoku" and "Ryonan". It was not clear who finished first, so the Impartial-Judge-Who-Was-Too-Busy-Shooing-Girls-Yuck-Cough-To-Watch-And-Listen made a decision. With a fantastic exhibition of his pearly whites, he shoved the cards towards Rukawa, who wanted to protest, but who thought, "Still early," so he kept quiet.

Jack of diamonds. Six of diamonds. Seven of clubs. Se--

"Shohoku," said Rukawa, a split second before Sendoh's tongue reached the roof his mouth. Rukawa smugly pushed the cards towards Sendoh.

Almost half of the deck, twenty-one cards to be exact, had been dealed. Rukawa felt sure of winning.

Four of hearts. Jack of spades. Two of spades. Nine of diamonds. Six of hearts.

Sakuragi and Miyagi talked about Haruko and Ayako. Mitsui watched Rukawa's and Sendoh's expressions. Kogure patiently dealed the cards.

Five of diamonds. Two of diamonds.

Sendoh remained alert. The pile of cards on Kogure's hand was thinning. He looked at Rukawa, who was confidently closing his eyes for a victory nap.

Only four cards left. Rukawa was not expecting a change anymore. Sendoh still did not give up. He was expecting a miracle.

Queen of spades. Seven of spades. Four of diamonds. Four of spades.

"Ryonan."

Rukawa could not believe it.

* * *

TBC 

AUTHOR'S NOTES 2: Orait! The next chapter will hopefully come before Christmas or so. Building momentum. Thanks again and I hope you will still enjoy. One or two chapters left, minna!!!!!!


	12. The Tenth Task

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yo! Back! I know I kinda broke my promise not posting this chappy before Christmas, but I was doing fieldwork then soooo...I finished this chapter sometime after, though. Will try to finish this by Sendoh's birthday. Or SenRu day. Surely by RuSen day. Thing is, I don't really know. So, anyway, here goes.

DISCLAIMER: Slam Dunk is not mine. You know who it belongs to.

* * *

The Tenth Task: The Power of Logic, Dance, and Alcohol

* * *

Rukawa couldn't concentrate on his English homework. You are not hallucinating; he WAS doing his homework. But he could not concentrate, as I said. He was thinking Math.

His hands were displaying the current scores in the challenge; his left hand was open and his right had one finger down. Not good; Sendoh was left and he was right.

He now realized the value of humility. His complacency at the ninth task was unforgivably stupid. The tenth and last task was his hope. He was determined to win it to even the scores. And then the mystery task by Sakuragi. This time, he would not be complacent. He was not going to lose in the challenge he himself started.

But first, he needed practice.

And his English homework even before that.

* * *

Mitsui woke up to a morning of epiphany. He had solved the fundamental problem more important than any mathematical equation.

He understood the impossible.

He understood Rukawa.

The theory formed in his mind was proved true by his careful observation of Rukawa's actions. IT WAS NOT STALKING. /I resent that./

From his complex logical computations and Kogure's Sherlock Holmes quote (which he did not think he'd remember), he concluded that any inexplicably strange and life-changing action was caused by an attraction of the romantic sort.

And Rukwa has been acting such. To name a few:

Rukawa + Challenge Inexplicably Strange

Rukawa + Socializing Life-Changing

(Rukawa + Sakuragi) – Fighting Inexplicably Strange

Rukawa + Sendoh Life-Changing

Such was Mitsui's thinking. He was witness to Rukawa's metamorphosis. Too many incidents prove his theory and 10+ chapters of that is enough proof. It was a significant change in Rukawa's behavior, but Mitsui was well aware of Rukawa's reputation as a master of subtlety in that department.

And so, Mitsui felt a paternal obligation to force Rukawa to accept those feelings he worked so hard to repress. He was going to be matchmaker to Rukawa and Sendoh. This was Mitsui's Amelie Poulain decision, his life-changing moment.

He could now see a brilliant career in psychology.

* * *

Rukawa put down the phone. He had just been talking to Anzai-sensei about a matter far more important than his challenge. Anzai-sensei noticed his steady improvement, especially in stamina.

Rukawa was happy. He had only minor things to take care of before going to America. Such as his challenge.

Revenge would be sweet. If it would be a smashing success.

He could hardly wait. One week to the tenth task. Practice. Triumph.

Oh, why was he not blessed with an evil laugh?

He left the house in such a good mood, one would expect him to sing a children's song if he was not Rukawa Kaede. He didn't even fall asleep on his bike.

It was a Sunday, and the arcade (a different one that nobody in school knew about) was packed, but the population was 100 male, thank goodness. No need for crotch security measures. The line at the token booth was long, but he only had to glare at some of the cowardly boys to skip seven or eight people. In a few minutes, he left the booth with a handful of tokens.

Using his trademark Icy Glare, he cleared the way to his desired machine. It beckoned to him with a seductively glowing, invisible finger. He stepped up, inserted the token, and chose among the lively songs.

He was no longer Rukawa Kaede; he was the ParaPara Master.

* * *

Sendoh, for the first time in weeks, focused his energy in basketball. The Ryonan team practice that Wednesday was lively and productive and everyone went home satisfied.

But Sendoh felt somewhat incompletye. Somehow, he missed Rukawa and the rest of the Shohoku people. It's not like that they hung out everyday or something, but being in full basketball mode and not thinking about Rukawa's challenge was...strange. He had become accustomed to them.

Like...friends.

/Let's see what Rukawa thought of that./

Come to think of it, they'd shared a lot of moments they'd never dreamed of having if it weren't for the task. Sendoh felt a little guilty of betraying Ryonan. In a very weird way.

Soon, it would be over. Life would be pretyty much the same. Only, if he lost, it would be a life without Rukawa. A normal life.

How abrupt.

* * *

"Where's Rukawa?"

"I don't know."

"I don't care! Do I look like that fox's bodyguard or something?"

"You'd be perfect for it."

"TEMEEEE!"

"I saw him talking to Anzai-sensei."

"He's not there now."

"Crap."

Mitsui sighed. This was his fourth failed attempt to draw a confession from Rukawa. The fox got out of his grasp again.

Rukawa's strange disappearance after practice aroused suspicions in Mitsui. Had he confessed to Sendoh? Were they secretly together? But then, things like this easily spread, and he hadn't heard a single rumor about the two basketball celebrities.

Of course, the tenth tasdk was looming and Rukawa could be preparing for it. They were all aware of the current score and it was highlylikely that Rukawea put extra effort to win.

The question is...how?

* * *

That Friday, Akagi decided to give his team a surprise skill test in preparation for the Shoyo match the following Tuesday. Needless to say, Mitsui, Miyagi and Kogure flew colors, but Rukawa was the one with the most significant improvement. In addition to the amazing skills he already possessed (not including the All-Purpose Glare and World-Turning Face), he seems to have developed stamine enough to anger Sakuragi.

Who passed his basics test as well. And who was, again, intensely annoyed by the praises Rukawa was receiving. And the fact that he took the basics test.

"Rukawa, Rukawa! That stupid fox is good for nothing! There's no improvement, if you ask me!"

"No one asked you, stupid," Rukawa said.

"TEM—ITAI!" cried Sakuragi, who received an Extra Special Gori Punch.

"Shut up, fool! Someone's taking the test!" yelled Akagi.

"You know, Rukawa, you should be careful how you deal with Sakuragi," Miyagi advised, seeing the murderous glare on Sakuragi. "He might just--" Miyagi hummed a portion of the K-i-s-s-i-n-g song-- "you know."

Rukawa, who had already desensitized himself and was able to deal with jokes like that more Rukawa-ly, just drank water.

"Good luck tomorrow, Rukawa. We'll see you," Kogure said.

Rukawa went to the showers without a word.

"He's being Rukawa again," Miyagi commented, sighing.

Mitsui smiled knowingly.

* * *

"No matter what, I'm gonna have fun."

"Just seeing Rukawa in the lowest situation possible is amusing."

"I wonder what would've happened to this challenge if we hadn't stepped in."

"Dead Rukawa, I guess."

"Good riddance! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"I'm starting to doubt Rukawa's intelligence."

"And your credibility--?"

"What exactly do you mean by that? Basketball is for smart people!"

"Riight. So that explains why Sakuragi's here."

"TEME! Ore wa tensai!"

"Wow, he actually got it."

"Omedetou!"

"Say, has anyone actually talked to Rukawa this week?"

"I've been tryiung to, but he keeps vanishing."

"Yeah, I noticed."

"You think he's still up for this?"

"Of course. Why back out now?"

"I smell something fishy."

"Me too."

"Me too."

"Er, I farted."

* * *

The challenge was supposed to take place that Saturday evening in a club Mitsui frequented in his gangster days. It was easy for minors to sneak in as entrance was not really strict. Except on news of a raid. Fortunately, that Saturday was good.

It was a cool evening after a rainy day and the club was as full as ever. Mitsui, Kogure, Miyagi and Sakuragi squeezed themselves through the entrance into a much more breathable area.

Their laid-back looks drew glances from the people who were dressed mostly in flashy clothing. The Shohoku boys were in shirts and jeans, but looked cooler than the rest.

Maybe they're born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline.

Mitsui went to buy drinks and came back with four beers. "Ran into an old friend. He bought us these," he said, letting the others take one each. "To friends and free beers!"

"Kanpai!"

The people seemed to gather to them; girls giggled past and the boyfriends of giggly girls stared murderously.

"Can't help it if we look good," said Mitsui coolly at one particularly murderous boyfriend.

Then a strangely-familiar-but-not-quite person approached their table. Casually rumpled hair, casual smile, casually stylish clothes. He seemed to belong perfectly to the group.

"Hi!" he greeted.

The Shohoku boys glared sharply at him. "Go away," Miyagi said coldly.

The unknown person scratched his head, paused, realized something, and laughed. "It's Sendoh Akira."

Mitsui choked on his drink. Kogure gaped. Miyagi actually spat out his drink at Sakuragi.

"TEME RYOCHIN!"

Sendoh's hair was down, stylishly disheveled, and it was the main reason he was not recognized. He was wearing a cotton checkered button-down over a graphic tee, deliberately torn jeans and sneakers.

"Where's Rukawa?" he asked, taking a seat.

"Not yet here," replied Kogure.

"He probably died on the way. Got run over by a train or something," suggested Sakuragi eagerly.

"You wish," said a voice behind them. "Ahou."

Nobody choked this time, for it was clearly Rukawa. Dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt, military green cargo pants with attached suspenders (meant to hang loose) and sneakers, he looke recognizable enough.

Seeing Sendoh, Rukawa was only mildly surprised. He raised an eyebrow, nothing more, and took a seat across his opponent. Mitsui took note. /Mild surprise. Previous sighting of un-gelled hair, most likely./

* * *

Twelve shots of a strange clear drink on the table. Six each for the challengers. Then the dance floor. /Easy enough,/ thought both Rukawa and Sendoh.

Mitsui smiled. "Drink up."

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Almost simultaneously, Rukawa and Sendoh lifted, emptied, and returned their shot glasses one by one. The judges stared like curious cats.

One.

Two.

Three.

Rukawa was flushed. His vision was spinning. His stomach was burning. He felt like grinning stupidly.

Sendoh was flushed. His vision was spinning. His stomach was burning. He was grinning stupidly.

What was the drink? Nobody knows. Not even Mitsui, who was smirking."Want some of that, Kogure?"

Kogure looked worried and shook his head. "No thanks. If I get drunk, nobody's gonna take care of you lot when you do."

"You underestimate us, Kogure," Mitsui said. "Look at them? They're perfectly fine."

Rukawa and Sendoh looked constipated, trying very hard not to look drunk. Sakuragi was laughing like mad, and Kogure gave Mitsui a look that read, "See?"

"Relax, Kogure. We love our livers," Miyagi replied.

Sakuragi nodded, chanting, "Liver lover, liver lover, liver lover" at such an amazing speed.

Kogure sighed.

Mitsui, sensing the effects of the alcohol on Sendoh and Rukawa, gestured towards the floor. "Challenge starts now."

Miyagi, with great effort, pushed the two of them towards the rapidly thickening crowd. But Rukawa veered towards the bar, leaving everyone confused. Miyagi cocked his head towards the boy. "What's he up to?" he asked no on in particular. No one in particular shrugged.

Meanwhile, Rukawa, drunk as he was, chugged down three shots of something that was surely alcoholic. He needed to enter a state of enlightenment even higher than that moment.

In short, he had to be crazy drunk to dance. He would not be caught dead on that dance floor full of possibly perverted and crazy drunk revelers. If there was anything that could make him back out of the task he practiced so hard for, it was the possibility of getting sexually harassed.

Rukawa vaguely saw the unsure look on the bartender's face as he asked for three more shots. He knew his glare was not working when the bartender continued to give him that look but not his drink. So he resorted to the Finger and the bartender conceded.

With a trembling hand, he held the shot glass and braced himself.

One.

Two.

Three.

And then it came, faster than he expected, like a bolt of lightning from who-knows-where.

Rukawa blacked out.

* * *

And then there was light.

Lots and lotsof blinking, blinding, dancing lights, Rukawa saw. His head was throbbing very hard, like the geologic forces on his skull. He felt the painful consequences of getting crazy drunk creeping up his esophagus.

And he didn't know why so many people were staring at him in a way outside his good looks. Including Mitsui, Miyagi, Kogure and Sendoh.

And he didn't know where Sakuragi was, but he didn't care. Well, just a bit.

And he didn't know why the world was spinning upside down.

"AMAZING HEADSPIN!"

/Huh?/

And then it came, faster than he expected, like a bolt of lightning from who-knows-where.

Rukawa was back. Sort of.

He got to his feet and ran straight to the exit, leaving a dance floor full of crazy drunk revelers chanting something totally incoherent. In his drunken state, he did not hear the DJ announcing his victory, nor the crowd cheering for him, nor the music changing to his favorite song, nor the bartender sighing as he ran past. He ran to the eternally available alley beside the building and vomited his insides out. And found Sakuragi unconscious in the only clean spot in the alley.

"Great job back there!" Mitsui congratulated him, magically appearing beside him. Rukawa retched some more, not really having any choice. He did not know what had happened so he couldn't reply properly. He was too busy vomiting anyway to reply properly. And he was Rukawa so he wouldn't reply anyway.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" Mitsui asked incredulously, not showing a trace of alcohol in his speech. /Where did you learn that?/ Rukawa wondered.

"Really, those moves you pulled off. Like--" Mitsui tried to reenact those moves he referred to, but failed. "WOW. I mean, you got us at the ParaPara, and the breakdancing was...WOW."

Rukawa wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He still felt very dizzy and his head was still throbbing like mad and he felt like he had amnesia, but at least he didn't sustain any serious injury.

But...

"Sempai?"

"Yeah?"

"Was I sexually harassed?"

Mitsui laughed like mad.

* * *

Somebody finally thought of poor unconscious Sakuragi and the vanished Mitsui and Rukawa, and so Miyagi, Kogure and Sendoh exited the club.

"You have to admit, Sendoh, you were floored there," Miyagi said not quite getting over Rukawa's performance.

Sendoh nodded his head. /He's even more alive than in basketball./ He was still quite dizzy, but sober for the most part.

"Rukawa was drunk, so we can't rationally explain his performance back there," Kogure said rather reproachfully. "He's unleashed something inside him that's like--"

"Super Drunken Dancing Master," Miyagi completed for him.

As for Sendoh, he did well, but was no match for Rukawa's cool breakdance moves. Even the DJ and the crowd had to agree.

They found Mitsui laughing his lungs out, Rukawa hitting hid head on the wall behind him and Sakuragi sprawled unconscious on the only clean spot in the alley.

Kogure sighed. "Must I always be patient and kind?" Miyagi helpd him carry Sakuragi, with great difficulty. Rukawa glared at them all and resumed hitting his head hoping to get rid of the throbbing. He sort of wished Sakuragi would just headbutt his headache away, but that was impossible, whether Sakuragi was conscious or not.

But Sendoh was there, and he was sober enough to offer his hand to Rukawa. Who slapped his hand away, as usual. Sendoh sighed.

"We can't bring him home like this, ugh," Kogure said, groaning under Sakuragi's superior weight.

"We can take him to my house," Mitsui offered, taking Sakuragi's arm from Miyagi and slinging it over his shoulder. Miyagi was quite relieved. "Anyway, my parents wouldn't mind. Not after..." he trailed off. "I'll call his mom."

Kogure sighed AGAIN. "We are not doing this again."

"Hey, rookie, get up now before your skull turns to mush," Mitsui said, pointedly ignoring Kogure.

"I think that was the idea." Miyagi offered his hand to Rukawa. He was ignored, to Sendoh's surprising relief. Rukawa stood up shakily.

And collapsed, unconscious.

"Oh, man."

"We really are not doing this again."

* * *

Sendoh was amazed at his kindness. He looked over at the sleeping Rukawa beside him and sighed. He deserves to be canonized. Since the start of this challenge, he has done nothing but be kind to Rukawa. Accepting the challenge was itself an act of kindness. Going through it for weeks was even more. He was never kind to anyone that was not family, friend, schoolmate or lover. He was friendly and nice, but not exactly kind.

Rukawa was not family. Rukawa was not friend. Rukawa was not schoolmate. Rukawa was not lover. But he was kind to Rukawa, so Rukawa must be one of the above.

Summoning the powers of logic, he tried again. Obviously, Rukawa was not family. Clearly, Rukawa was not schoolmate. So Rukawa was either friend or lover.

But Rukawa repeatedly refused Sendoh' offer of friendship. That leaves...

/Not in any lifetime./

* * *

"I'm so tired."

"Dammit, Sakuragi's drooling on my shirt."

"At least not on your pants."

"We really are not doing this again."

"For the nth time, Kogure!"

"Good thing Sendoh took Rukawa."

"His parents seemed okay with having Rukawa as a house guest."

"I wonder how he is..."

"Mwahahahahahahaha!"

"What the hell are you laughing about Mitsui?"

"Something Rukawa said. Nothing."

"You're crazy."

* * *

Sendoh's parents were already asleep when he arrived, so he huffed and puffed and heaved Rukawa into his room, threw him like a log onto his bed, and covered him with his blanket.

So much for kindness.

But he was too damn exhausted, so he himself dropped to the space beside Rukawa. He felt a little headache coing and his eyes are beginning to get heavy...

/Just a quick nap.../

/Ten minutes.../

/Then I'll change.../

/And.../

/Sleep.../

"Good morning!"

And Sendoh opened his eyes not to a dark sky but a beautiful Sunday morning and the warmth of a human body---

/Crap./

* * *

TBC

Hehe. Rather long chapter, don't you think? UP NEXT: The Eyewitness Account of a Fly in Sendoh's Room. Watch out for this! Keep the reviews coming! I appreciate them greatly, especially those from the readers of long ago who still read this! Thanks to you all!


	13. Interlude

AUTHOR'S NOTES: OK, yoshi! Valentines and Sendoh's birthday came and went, but what did I do? I didn't post the latest chapter for my dear readers, but I wrote a SenRu rated M posted somewhere in (Ok, shameless. --). Anyway, here it is, after a week of debating whether it's worthy of posting...HORA!!! I am evil!!!

DISCLAIMER: Wish I owned Slam Dunk, but I DO NOT.

* * *

Interlude: The Eyewitness Account of a Fly in Sendoh's Room  
By Kumagoro Meowzaki

* * *

-_Note: The following account is from a fly named $(#! (I don't know how to pronounce that in human language, but...), who happened to be in Sendoh Akira's room that Saturday night/Sunday morning. He was taken into custody by the SenRu Stalking Police Task Force after exiting the scene. As the fly doesn't speak human language AT ALL, and is totally unaware of the names of our dear boys, several SenRu Stalking Police Task Force interpreters have been hired to extract this account and translate it for the convenience of the general public. The public is advised not to worry as this account is available for free. -_

Hmmm...well, that night I was just, you know, floating around, minding my own business. Then two human boys came in, smelling of alcohol. They looked kinda alike, you know, but then all humans look alike to me. Anyway, one of them was dragging his friend by the shoulder and then threw him, socks and all, onto the bed. Then he himself plopped down beside the other guy, so tired that he just—whoosh—knocked himself out. They almost looked cute, you know, smug as bugs in a rug.

So, anyway, they were snoring for a while and I was still floating around when the first sleeping guy—what's his name? Oh, Rukawa? Damn, that's a mouthful—threw his arm and leg out of the blanket and around—who's he again? Sendoh. Another friggin mouthful.Anyway, it was so funny, I almost lost an eye laughing.

Then they were snoring again, yadda yadda yadda, the Sendoh curled up and Rukawa rolled onto his other side. Sendoh was drooling a bit.

It got a little boring, so I went out for a while to get some food. I came back at around 3 am, human time. I heard this Rukawa guy say something that sounded like Fly-language, but I didn't quite catch it, sorry. Anyway, it just surprised me a bit.

Then I was just flying around, checking out the room and then it became really cold, like, weird or something. Seemed like Sendoh felt it too, 'coz he pulled the blanket to him. I went nearer the bed and perched myself at the head of the bed for a better view and better temperature.

I was having fun snuggling, when Sendoh said something in his sleep. This time, I heard it, loud and clear. Of course, I didn't understand it, but I am postive it's "Rukawa", the other guy's name. Kinda hard saying that word, you know. Then Rukawa groaned and rolled on his back and—slam—his hand landed smack on Sendoh's human chest. Really funny, that, 'coz Sendoh just snored on.

More snores, blah blah blah, then at around an hour later, Rukawa snuggled against Sendoh's back and groaned something. Maybe he was cold. Then Sendoh turned to face him, maybe 15 minutes later and just hugged him, arms, legs and all. So cute, but I almost got crushed.

Ten minutes after I got myself to a safer place on one of the bedposts, Rukawa probably got suffocated on Sendoh's chest, 'coz he rolled over again. But Sendoh moaned or something and pulled his arms and legs. Then I heard him say, "No," and rubbed his nose and cheek on Rukawa's nape.

At this point, Rukawa stirred a little and I hid where I can't be slapped away by those great human hands. He groaned something I didn't hear and kinda, you know, wriggled out of Sendoh. Well, tried to. The guy was so sticky, man, like my legs. So Rukawa opened his two human eyes a bit. He was, like, staring at Sendoh's arm and leg around his body for the longest time, then he sighed and closed his eyes again.

When I went out of my hiding place, I saw him holding Sendoh's hand. Really, really cute. They looked like two fly-lovers in a bed of some nice, warm shit, you know. The two of them stayed like that and snored away until sunrise.

Then the door burst open and a human woman came in and said something in human language I didn't catch then I flew out and you stupid idiot humans--

-_What followed next are the fly-screams and fly-protests not worth publishing here. The said fly has been released and is now applying for emigration to some island in the Pacific.-_

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES, ROUND 2: Hehe. Just about two chapters more. I'll try to finish this before our fieldwork in Sabah (where I surely won't have time to write). Thanks for continuing to read and review this! 


	14. Dou Natteru No?

AUTHOR'S NOTES: "**Dou natteru no?" –** "What's going on?"

This is possibly the most chaotic and anticlimactic chapter of the lot. I meant to post it on SenRu day, but I had another thing for that (which was also a few days late). Anyway, I wouldn't let Sendoh month pass without having another chapter in this fic posted.

I mean to post the last chapter on RuSen day, which would make sense, since this is more of a RuSen after all. I hope I won't be late.

DISCLAIMER: Who says I own Slam Dunk? The expression 'eff' is not really my original too. It comes from 'effing', which I read first from Rowling and the HP series. But I don't read a lot, so I don't know if it came from her.

* * *

**Dou natteru no?**

**By Kumagoro Meowzaki**

* * *

"Good morning!"

/Yes…/ Sendoh thought, a smile making an appearance on his lips. It felt nice and warm on his bed. The sheets were soft, the pillows. He buried his face into the one he was holding ever so tightly in his arms, and it was perfect, just the right warmth, just the right firmness, just the right size for wrapping his ever so tired body around it. He rubbed his cheek against it. So smooth, like baby skin.

Skin?

Bone?

Hair?

/Crap./

His eyes snapped open and what greeted them was a close-up vision of Rukawa's nape. Then, _whoosh_, it all came to him faster than a flash hangover flash.

"Oh god." He jumped out of the bed as if it was suddenly on fire. His hands automatically landed on his torso—fortunately clothed. Then he checked Rukawa's reaction—nil, sleeping as usual. So far, so good.

So who—

"How was your date?"

Segment by 2.379-inch-straight segment, Sendoh Akira slowly turned his head around 180° Exorcist trick and found his mother standing at the door, smiling her omniscient, motherly smile.

"Nice plush toy you got there," she said, her voice dripping with teasing innuendo. "So that is the famous Rukawa-san. He's so handsome--" she said, moving to enter her son's room. But Sendoh—er, Akira—quickly blocked the door.

"We'll be right down," he said faster than you could say, "We'll be right down" in a panic. Then he flashed his most irresistible smile at his mother.

"Hey, I taught you that!"

Sendoh Akira grinned even wider. So his mother sighed and rolled her eyes and left. "Fifteen minutes!"

"Yes, mom!"

Akira sighed. It had to happen sooner or later. Now to prepare for doom. He glanced worriedly at Rukawa-his-sleeping-plushie and groaned.

/Crap./

* * *

Mrs. Sendoh is 37 years old, 172 cm tall, and weighs 57 kilos. In her youth, her ultimate dream was to be a flight attendant, but she landed an office job instead. She enjoys BL movies and arranging the contents of the fridge.

Her husband, Mr. Sendoh, is 39 years old, 187 cm tall and weighs 95 kilos. He wanted be a professional stuntman, but he ended up teaching PE to junior high school kids. He enjoys karaoke and sports.

Mr. Sendoh was shifting in his seat, waiting for his son and their visitor, when his wife walked into the kitchen, smiling her omniscient wifely smile. Mr. Sendoh knew something was up, seeing that look on his wife's face.

"The boys will be down," said Mrs. Sendoh, failing to hide the excitement in her voice. She sat down opposite he husband.

"It's a pity that Rukawa kid is a boy. The way Akira talks about him, he's like a really sexy girl." Mr. Sendoh sighed. "A really sexy girl who's an ace in basketball," he added, a little dreamy.

"I know! Akira doesn't even invite his schoolmates over and Rukawa-san has been here twice already."

Mr. Sendoh appeared to ignore his wife. "Rukawa-san must be a really good basketball player."

"Really handsome boy too."

"Maybe he'll enter the pro-league someday."

"Looks like a model--"

"Or the NBA--"

"Or an actor--"

"Maybe he'll be a PE teacher like me--"

"He could also be in one of those boybands--"

…and so on and so forth, each going on in a separate thread of fantasy ad infinitum, ad nauseam.

* * *

**How to Effectively Rouse Rukawa Kaede from Sleep**

Shout in his ear, which would probably wake him up, but would also earn you a black eye and some.

Use an alarm clock, which he would then use to throw at you once he realizes he doesn't use one. (Sendoh Akira learned this the hard way.)

Poke him with something long, preferably a body part. Then he'd think he's been sexually harassed and have you TRO-ed.

Blow a whistle; he would instantly assume basketball mode and throw a ball (which would magically appear from nowhere) at you.

Throw a snake on the bed or wherever he's sleeping, then wish he'd wake up before the snake bites him. If he does, he will throw the snake at you, so make sure the snake is not poisonous.

Sendoh Akira contemplated which method is most effective, but realized that all of them involved some form of retaliation and pain, and so made deciding a little difficult. Or easy, if you want to just say no to everything.

He—well, they—were still wearing the clothes they wore the night before. The clothes felt rather constricting and hot. Sendoh undid his belt, wondering vaguely if he should hit Rukawa's leg with it.

/Yes. A shower first and then I'll think about how to wake him up./ Sendoh smiled. "Oh well, best to let Snow White Rukawa the Sleeping Beauty--"

Wait.

Sendoh's eyes landed on Rukawa's partly-open lips. As the fairy-tale dream scene flashed in his mind, the gears of the more mischievous corner of his head started to wind. Then an evil grin crept to his lips.

But he realized he was fantasizing about kissing Rukawa and he didn't like the feeling of it. Not especially when he realized that he was seriously considering it. Mental shudder. The gears stopped.

/What the hell is happening to me?/ He groaned, rubbing his throbbing temples. He thre his belt somewhere, exasperated. /Damn hangover./

A shower would be most welcome, he decided finally.

* * *

In his half-sleep, he remembered how he had held Sendoh's hand in the dawn. Flash repeat flash, until his head throbbed. Now he could hear Sendoh in the shower. He thought it safe to let his eyes flutter open.

A thought worried him. The feeling of not being alone was nice.

It was nice.

Nice.

Nice.

Flash repeat zoom pan flash.

It worried him because it made life more complicated. It used to be that he only thought about himself, basketball, and America, but if he entertained that stupid feeling, he would have to make room for it and it was not good.

He drew his brows together. Since when had it become like this? Quick flash, he started it. He was the one who thought of all this shit. Complicated thoughts were not designed for him, that's why he chose the simple life.

Riiiiight.

His head throbbed painfully as he recalled how he had instinctively turned from Sendoh and dropped his hand like burning paper when he heard the door click open, thanking the gods for his reflexes.

And the idiot Sendoh just had to hu—

And he was thinking again. Hangover sucks.

He wished he were born a bacteria. Correction: bacterium.

Bacteria don't think about stupid smiles when they play basketball. Bacteria don't think about idiots who can't ride bicycles (in JAPAN, no less). Bacteria don't think about fishing. Bacteria don't think about tutus and cookies. Bacteria don't think about stupid effing kisses (shudder). Bacteria don't think about stupid lemons or cooking. Bacteria don't think about stupid arcade games like DDR. Bacteria don't think about eating damn hotdogs. Bacteria don't think about porn. Bacteria don't think about dancing and getting drunk (and vice versa).

BACTERIA DON'T THINK.

BACTERIA DON'T GET SEXUALLY HARASSED.

BACTERIA DON'T GET REVENGE.

And most importantly,

BACTERIA DON'T GET CONFUSED BECAUSE THEY DON'T FALL IN LOVE.

Wait. Erase.

BACTERIA DON'T GET CONFUSED BECAUSE THEY DON'T THINK THEY FALL IN LOVE.

Bacteria are so damn lucky.

* * *

"Would you explain to me exactly what we are doing here?"

Mitsui did not answer, preferring instead to peer into his new hi-tech binoculars. Miyagi sighed.

"Damn. I should have stayed with Kogure and Sakuragi," he said, regretting he had let himself be dragged to an abandoned house which happened to be next to the Sendohs' and which happened to have a marvellous view of Sendoh Akira's bedroom.

"Then you would have missed the most important event in Japanese history," Mitsui said, still watching with his hi-tech binoculars.

"Impossible. It would be when Ayako goes out with me."

Mitsui rolled his eyes from behind his hi-tech binoculars. He was watching Sendoh watching Rukawa sleeping on the bed. Mitsui was alert. According to his calculations, Sendoh would try to wake Rukawa by kissing him. Any moment now…

"Oh my god," he said, passing the hi-tech binoculars to Miyagi.

"What?" Miyagi said puzzled. Mitsui grabbed his hi-tech binoculars.

Sendoh was grinning. "This is it!" Mitsui cried, almost trembling with excitement.

Then Sendoh dropped the grin and walked to the bathroom, which was (un)fortunately, invisible to Mitsui's hi-tech binoculars (which were not hi-tech enough to see through walls).

"What the eff?!" Mitsui cried. He almost threw the hi-tech binoculars in his rage.

Miyagi rolled his eyes. "What's going on?"

* * *

"Oh, you're awake now."

"…"

"Want to take a shower? Your clothes from last time are still here."

Rukawa's brow twitched. He stood up. "I'm going home." He made for the door, but Sendoh blocked him.

"No, you can't." Rukawa glared at him, starting to get annoyed. "My parents want to meet you."

"What?!" Rukawa was hurling all sorts of curses at Sendoh in his head, wishing he had telepathy so that Sendoh could hear him because it would be so OOC if he was heard hurling curses.

Sendoh just grinned, blocking the door.

But Rukawa was obstinate. "Just give me my clothes and I'll go."

"No," Sendoh said firmly. He was beginning to get annoyed at Rukawa for being so ungratefully rude. "What's your problem? Can't you at least thank my family for accommodating you and your stupid drunkenness?"

Rukawa was shocked at Sendoh's display of anger. He just stood there, ever so masterful and stubborn and antisocial, refusing to yield to Sendoh. He was just silent, seriously considering the use of violence just to avoid unnecessary social contact.

But, Sendoh, pushed to the limit by Rukawa's behaviour, was the first to use brute force. "That's it." He punched Rukawa's cheek with such force, it sent the Shohoku boy reeling, falling onto the bed. He was about to hit him again, but Rukawa, more experienced in fighting, easily caught his fist and pinned him on the bed. Sendoh braced himself for a blow, but it never came. He looked up at Rukawa, straddling him, fist raised, but still as a rock.

"You're an asshole, Sendoh Akira."

Rukawa climbed off him and quickly strode towards the door and left the room, slamming it shut behind him.

Sendoh's parents were at the foot of the stairs. They looked confused. "Rukawa-san?"

Rukawa bowed hurriedly. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave." He bowed again. "Thank you very much for accommodating me," he said, then left.

Mrs. Sendoh blinked. "What happened?"

* * *

"Sendoh's coming out of the bathroom. With clothes, too bad."

"Mitsui, you sound like you have the hots for Sendoh Akira."

"No friggin' way. Besides, that would totally ruin their love story."

"Excuse me, whose love story are we talking about here?"

"Rukawa and Sendoh's."

"What? You're still upholding that stupid theory?"

"It's not stupid. It's perfectly logical. I've thought about it."

"I wish you'd think so hard about your acads as well."

"Look who's talking. Oh wait, what's going on? Sendoh's trying to keep Rukawa in his room? There, Miyagi, is your proof."

"Let me see. Hmmm…you're right. I think he's trying to make Rukawa pay for lodging."

"Pay with his body."

"I don't think so, Sendoh looks mad. Damn, I can't see Rukawa's face. Shit! He hit him!"

"What?"

"Sendoh hit Rukawa! Now Rukawa's sitting on his legs, I think he's gonna hit him back. Oh? What happened? Rukawa's gone chicken?"

"Huh? Give me that. He's not hitting Sendoh. I told you he loves him! What? He's leaving? That's it?"

"Mission failed, Mitsui. Damn you, you dragged me out early in the morning for this? You owe me lunch. For one week."

* * *

The first thing Rukawa did upon setting foot in his house was pick up the phone and dial Anzai-sensei's number.

He didn't have to think about the tasks anymore. The challenge was already forfeit. So what if he didn't beat Sendoh? It's not like that idiot was the best player in Japan.

"Moshi moshi."

"Anzai-sensei."

"Ah! Rukawa-kun, how are you?"

"Sensei, I've thought about it. I want to go."

There was silence on the other line. "I thought you had something to take care of. What about school?"

What about it? Rukawa thought. There was nothing to miss. He was the type who slept in class. Nobody would miss him anyway, except the really rabid fangirls, who di not really matter to him.

"It's alright," Rukawa said finally.

"OK. I'll take care of the necessary documents. O-ho-ho-ho!"

Rukawa hung up. He was victorious. Or so he deluded himself. He still was no bacteria (bacterium, whatever).

And he'll never forgive himself for even thinking that he was in love with Sendoh. THERE WAS NO DAMN WAY THAT COULD EVER HAPPEN.

Or so he deluded himself.

* * *

"Akira! Open the door this instant!"

Thirty-minutes have passed since Rukawa left his room, but Sendoh did not even budge from where he lay on the bed.

Rukawa was an ingrate, he decided. He blinked.

"Well, damn you too, Rukawa."

"Akira! Answer me! Open the damn door!"

Sendoh was so pissed, he didn't even hear his parents banging on the door. It was so ANBERIBABORU, ala Aida.

He was angry because Rukawa chose to be a damn effing jerk when he could be something else. Someone more bearable. Someone who's not an ingrate.

"Damn you to hell, Rukawa."

Who was he anyway? He's not the only one who has the right to be angry. Damn him for being a bastard. A selfish, ungrateful, egotistical, bastard.

Sendoh hated Rukawa right now. He hated himself too, for indulging Rukawa and his stupid challenge. What was he anyway? He could fly to America for all he cared. Heck, he better go to hell.

It was a pathetic idea. But Sendoh believed it anyway.

And this was not the first time.

* * *

Sakuragi retched, releasing yet another round of vomit, curses, and oaths into the toilet.

"Damn you. Kitsune!!!"

Kogure, who was assisting Sakuragi in his vomiting, wondered how it could possibly be Rukawa's fault that Sakuragi was having a hangover right now. He also wondered where Mitsui and Miyagi might be at this hour.

They were lucky they had Mitsui's place to themselves. His parents suddenly decided to take a quick vacation to Okinawa and left sometime last night, thus saving them the effort of explaining.

But now Kogure was playing babysitter to an idiot with a hangover. With both Mitsui and Miyagi gone for unknown reasons, the situation was enough to try his patience.

Sakuragi retched again.

"FUCK YOU TO HELL, MITSUI HISASHI!!!"

Sakuragi blinked in the middle of his vomiting.

"Thanks, Kogure, but no thanks."

Mitsui had arrived, but without Miyagi in tow. Sakuragi resumed being sick. Kogure, far from sighing in relief, aimed a kick at Mitsui's crotch, but missed and hit the bathroom door instead with a loud bang.

Of course, it's quite obvious what happens when a slippered foot makes contact with hard wood.

"And why are you suddenly swearing?"

"I hate you," Kogure seethed, nursing his injured foot. "Where's Miyagi? Where did you go off to? Shit, MY FOOT HURTS LIKE HELL!"

"Stop swearing, maybe it will stop hurting too."

"Fuck off."

* * *

"Rukawa is so energetic today, don't you think?"

"Yeah. He was practicing his shots already when I arrived and he's still up!"

"Wow. He's so cool."

Ayako hit the two unnamed freshmen (who paid the author an unnamed amount to get a cameo here) with her All-Purpose Paper Fan. "What are you doing just gawking at Rukawa?! Join the others or you'll be dribbling with Sakuragi!"

So powerful was that name that even before Ayako could say "!", they had already joined the rest of the team in the drills. Said redhead, who was practicing his dribbling at his usual spot, glared grudgingly at their team manager, mumbling semi-curses under his breath. Ayako went back to her rounds.

Kogure was still a little pissed with Mitsui and Miyagi, but he's mostly OK. He practiced passes with them.

"I hate to say this, but Mitsui makes sense."

"What, you too, Kogure? I wish you were still mad at Mitsui."

"Well, what can I say? I'm so smart and cool and tall--"

"Shut up."

Akagi and Anzai-sensei entered the gym. Everyone greeted them. A break was declared. Everyone marched off the court, either to the bleachers or the lockers.

Except, of course, for Rukawa. He simply refused to let go of the ball. After their drills, he continued practicing his shots.

"Show-off," Sakuragi muttered, looking around for Haruko. He couldn't find her. "Well, at least she couldn't see that shit fox showing off." He stomped to the locker room, bowing at Anzai-sensei who was walking towards Rukawa.

"So, are you ready?" Anzai-sensei asked.

"Yeah," Rukawa replied, shooting the ball into the ring.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to your friends?" Anzai-sensei glanced meaningfully at Mitsui, Miyagi, and Kogure.

Friends…Rukawa didn't think so. It's interesting what people notice. Had he really let his guard down that much?

"No need for that."

Anzai-sensei smiled knowingly. Rukawa was an interesting person, and the boy did not know it. "Alright." He gave a hearty laugh.

Rukawa stared at the ball a few feet away. The ball stared happily back. Rukawa wondered how it could be happy when it couldn't smi—

Bacteria.

The voice of Anzai-sensei broke his thoughts, thankfully. "When's your flight?"

Rukawa's lips twitched 0.43289 mm upward. "I'm leaving tomorrow, Sensei."

**-TBC-**

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Nasty little buggers, these cliffhangers, but I gotta admit they're quite handy.

ONLY ONE CHAPTER LEFT!!!! I wonder how long that will take. What am I, some insane, evil Rowling clone-freak? Not dreaming of it.

But, I'm going to do a Rowling. Right now.

RUKAWA'S GONNA DIE.

Yeah, he is.


	15. Last Two Minutes!

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Ahoy, mates!!! At last, we come to a close. I thus put an end to this stupidity after four years of toil. When I started this, I was younger than these boys I am writing about; now, as I finish, I am older than any of them. At the course of this fic, I have lost and gained and I have no regrets in how it turned out. I have grown with Slam Dunk, however, and the end of this piece of writing does not mean that I have ceased to love these two boys. There are more than a thousand more stories to write about them, more than a thousand more ways to tell about their love.

At this point, I would like to thank the people who put up with my insanity: my sister Puying, my best friends Jo-chan and Chechecat, my neighbors who hear my outbursts. I thank those who reviewed, for the encouragement to continue and finish this fic. Most of all, I thank you, dear reader, for faithfully standing by this fic even when the chapters took too long to write.

With that, I bring you the last chapter of "Rukawa's Revenge". Bon appetit.

* * *

Finale: Last Two Minutes! 

By Kumagoro Meowzaki

* * *

Sakuragi sulked off to the lockers, bowing briefly to Anzai-sensei as he passed. Rukawa never failed to piss him off. His condescending glares, his arrogant remarks...man, was he born to annoy everybody. _No wonder he doesn't have friends. Ch. Haruko would—AAAAHHHHH!!!!! _He fell flat on his face on the cold, hard floor, six feet from the gym door. 

"TEMEEE, KITSUNE!" As always, it had to be poor Rukawa's fault, even though in reality, it had been his untied shoelaces that caused him to fall. He cursed as he knelt to repair the problem. _If I wasn't thinking about him--_

"I'm leaving tomorrow."

_Huh?_ There was no mistaking it; that cold monotone had only one owner. His Automatic Conversation Filters instantly perked, but nothing came afterwards except the sharp _swish_ of the ball going into the ring. But he had heard it alright; RUKAWA WAS LEAVING.

He was supposed to be laughing victoriously within three seconds of hearing it, but he just knelt there frozen, feeling utterly strange. An enormous stream of Rukawa-quotes—most of which were different variations of "stupid" in Japanese monotone—rushed like Hun-Hun Defense in superspeed in his head.

"Gah!" Thought waterfalls were always unbearable for Sakuragi. Worse, they were not easily gotten rid of. He banged his head on the tiles, one, two, three times.

"Oi, Sakuragi."

Sakuragi looked up and found Mitsui standing over him, giving him one of those weird stares. "What do you want?" he snapped.

Mitsui's eyebrows shot up. He heards the loud _ban-ban_ of the ball bouncing on wood and, craning his head to look, saw the cause of Sakuragi's PMS at the court. "Rukawa's still there."

Sakuragi stood up. "Yeah. He's enjoying the gym for the last time."

"What do you mean?"

Sakuragi leaned towards Mitsui to whisper what he had heard. With each word, Mitsui's eyes widened a millimeter, and when Sakuragi finished, he gasped. "You're kidding, right? He can't go to America yet!"

Like a doctor after a failed life-saving surgery, Sakuragi shook his head.

"But—I mean—he—" Mitsui stuttered in disbelief. This went on for a couple of seconds and then he grabbed Sakuragi's arm. "This is serious," he said in the most serious way possible.

Sakuragi nodded.

Mitsui blinked. "But Sakuragi..." There was an emphatic pause as Mitsui stared at the freshman's scowling face. "You don't sound too happy. Don't tell me..."

Sakuragi blinked.

"You're gonna miss him aren't you?" Mitsui grinned like a hundred Cheshire cats as Sakuragi sputtered and mock-choked before him. "Don't worry, I won't tell Rukawa. Come on, we gotta go."

The fake gags stopped. "Huh? Where are we going? And where are Ryochin and Megane-kun?"

"Too many question marks! Kogure's got a date with Akagi. Captain seemed jealous we're stealing his boyfriend too much. Miyagi has an exam tomorrow."

"Like he cared."

"Apparently, Ayako's tutoring him. He was gushing about it in the locker room. As if I'd believe him."

"I don't believe it either."

* * *

Aida Hikoichi sprinted as fast as he could to the gym, where he knew Sendoh still was. He had been on his way out when he met two people who had a message for Ryonan's ace player. Some mnths ago, he remembered passing a cards to Sendoh; this new message might be related. Or not, but he figured it was just as interesting. 

He paused outside the gym, taking in a couple of breaths before opening the door.

"Se—huh?"

The gym was empty save for two members of the baseball team making out in one dark corner of the bleachers. Resisting the temptation of BIG NEWS, Hikoichi called out, "Hey, have you seen Sendoh?"

One of them broke off and yelled, "Lockers!"

"Thanks!" Hikoichi ran off, making a mental note to come back after giving Sendoh the message. There was nothing more interesting than gay members of the baseball team. He promised himself to pass this scoop to his baseball team correspondent later. "Sendoh!"

Sendoh was on his way out, gym bag slung over his shoulders. "Yo."

"Someone's—here—to see—you," Hikoichi breathed out. "Waiting—at the—gate."

"OK." Sendoh stepped forward, but Hikoichi ushered him the other way.

"You—wouldn't want to see what's—in the gym."

Sendoh, much bewildered, took another exit. He waved goodbye to the panting Hikoichi and walked towards the school entrance where he saw the unmistakable red that was Sakuragi and his companion, Mitsui. He sighed. _Gotta tell them I'm backing out of Rukawa's game. _

Nevertheless, it was with a bright smile that he greeted the two. "Yo, Mitsui, Sakuragi. What's up?"

Without so much as a "Hello," Sakuragi said, "Rukawa's going to America. Tomorrow."

"You dolt! You weren't supposed to say that yet!" Mitsui hit the back of Sakuragi's head with his bag. "And no, Sendoh, that was not a joke," he said, instantly clamping Sendoh's half-open mouth shut. He sighed. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

Sendoh shrugged. "He can do what he wants, go to hell, I don't really care."

"You don't mean that, you just got into a fight with him. And it doesn't matter how we know." Sendoh's mouth clamped shut again. "That's why he's leaving, because of that fight," Mitsui continued.

_The coward_, Sendoh couldn't help thinking. He took a deep breath. "Really, I don't care. I have to get going, we have a game tomorrow. Ja!"

"You like him."

Sendoh stopped dead in his tracks, like he'd been shot with a nuke bullet. Bang!

Mitsui smirked that oh-so-sexy smirk of his. "You like Rukawa. That's why you played with him. That's why you're a little pissed now, even though it doesn't show."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"You didn't want him to go, did you? You wanted to beat him so he wouldn't go," Sakuragi said in a rare display of intelligence. He looked so serious, the red hair seemed so out of place.

Sendoh's fist involuntarily clenched. His head was teeming with information. Desperately, he thought of something to say to fend off that nuclear barrage of thought. "I don't have that kind of hobby," he said bluntly, with his back still facing the two. He made to leave again, hand in pocket, looking as calm as he did before this conversation.

"Rukawa likes you too."

This time, it wasn't a bullet. It came like an extra helping of a nuke bomb, completely eradicating everything previously said. And after the blast came a moment of clarity...and then chaos again. He managed to blurt out, "That's enough," before walking away.

"That was cold," Sakuragi said. "Didn't go as planned. What happens now?"

Mitsui shrugged, clearly a little frustrated. "I don't know. Our work here is done."

"I wanted to say that."

Mitsui put his arm around Sakuragi's shoulder. "Dude, you are so nice to Rukawa, you know that?" he teased. Doing an almost perfect impersonation of Sakuragi , he said. "'You didn't want him to go.' Haha! You'd win an award."

"Shut up."

* * *

_Of all the times, why now?_ thought Mitsui as he put down the phone. As luck would have it, both Kogure and Miyagi were "unavailable" at the moment. "Kogure, DAMMIT! He's ALWAYS available!" Slightly annoyed, threw himself on the bed. 

He should be happy right now. He should be damn celebrating because his theory had just been proven, even though neither of his guinea pigs were even aware of it. On the other hand, his matchmaking plan went awry, premature like one of his three-pointer attempt when he was annoyed or pressured. Gone were the elaborate schemes just like

"THAT." Mitsui kissed his grand matchmaking plan goodbye. [Author wishes he kissed her instead, but no chance at all.

He rolled on the bed, like egg for maki, left, right, left. "Crap. Crap. Crap," went the mantra in his head. He was at a loss what to do next. He could hear his mother's preparations for dinner, the heavenly smell of food wafting up to his bedroom, distracting him from his thought.

It was impossible to talk Rukawa out of his plans for departure. He had tried to persuade Sendoh to try and convince Rukawa to postpone again, as he did last time, but to no avail. He had done work planting the idea in Sendoh's head, though. All that is left to do is wait for it to simmer.

But Mitsui did not like waiting. Always, the man of action, he was not one to sit around and watch the seconds tick by. It had been the reason his injuries injuries were aggravated, which led to his non-participation in the elimination games in his first year and eventually, his joining Tetsuo. This time however, he was forced to do exactly what he didn't like. It was not a matter he could easily act on. Too much meddling causes disaster.

_What was too much meddling anyway? _Grinning at the idea, he picked up the phone and dialed Rukawa's number.

_Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring._

"The hell?! Not even an answering machine!"

* * *

That evening, Sakuragi Hanamichi skipped dinner. He went straight to his room and crashed on the bed, uniform and all. 

Why did he feel so depressed? Rukawa was leaving, probably for good. That should be a good thing, since there was nothing in his way to Haruko's heart. Even if she continues to waste saliva on Rukawa, the fact remained that she had no chance in hell of being noticed by him unless she had a penis and she was Sendoh Akira.

He wished he had been a tad bit nicer to Rukawa. If only he had known earlier, much earlier, about Rukawa's feelings for Sendoh, he probably would have treated him better. Or not, but as everybody said, he was the closest thing Rukawa had to a friend, which explains why Rukawa asked him for help in the first place.

Although Sakuragi hesitated to admit it, Rukawa was not a total jerk. He was nice enough to teach him lay-ups, even though THAT had ended in a disaster. He gave him tips during games, encouraged him and even passed the ball to him sometimes. Of course, he's a genius, duh, everyone passed to him. Well, no. Well...whatever.

The point was, he's going to miss Rukawa. He was going to miss the Freestyle Fighting Matches, the teasing, the name-calling. Especially the name-calling. Insults really sounded cool when Rukawa said them, even he had to admit that. With Rukawa gone, games and drills would be a little less fun. Of course, no one else had to know, especially Mitsui.

Now where did 'condescending', 'arrogant' and 'irritating' go?

* * *

_Uoy sekil Awakur._

_Likes you Rukawa._

_Awakur uoy sekil._

_You Rukawa likes._

Sendoh flipped the statement over and over in his mind, but it still didn't make sense. Back, front, left, right, vertical, horizontal...it just kept getting crazier and crazier.

Mitsui had said both the one thing Sendoh did not want to hear and the one thing he really wanted to hear. Sendoh did not expect them to come the way they did, but they did anyway. He found them really weird. I mean, come on, who would think that two of the biggest high school basketball stars in Kanagawa were actually in love with each other?

Just you and me, of course.

Rukawa, for example. He was the ultimate rival, always hostile, cold, and unfeeling, that's why it had been OK to annoy him. Their rivalry was solid excuse for the brief and occasional WAFF Sendoh had for him. WAFF only lived inside his head until that moment Mitsui released it into the atmosphere like a bad fart and permeated everything they'd gone through.

When did Rukawa start liking him? He, on the other hand, got interested in Rukawa when they played against each other. From that first practice game with Shohoku, Rukawa held his gaze. He was one of the few people he truly enjoyed playing with. Rukawa had skill and ambition in great amounts, and Sendoh felt threatened at first because Rukawa was really determined to be the best in his craft. That determination was what spurred Sendoh to match him, which drove Rukawa to up his level, and so on.

So when he heard that Rukawa was leaving for America (from the only source of gossip, Hikoichi), he was quite disappointed. He challenged Rukawa to a one-on-one just to be able to play ith him one last time. He never expected Rukawa to cancel his trip shortly after that friendly—for lack of a better term—game. When Rukawa's challenged came, Sendoh decided he'd never let Rukawa leave that easily.

That's when the WAFF started.

The challenge was an opportunity to know Rukawa outside the confines of the basketball court. It was cool, learning things about Rukawa few other mortals knew. And by few other mortals, he meant Mitsui, Miyagi, Kogure, and Sakuragi. And possibly Rukawa's parents. He could sell the information to Rukawa's fangirls and be a rich man. And with each task, he became even more fascinated and amused with Rukawa.

In the simplest, girliest terms the author's shit brain could come up with, he found Rukawa cute. And that was the gap in his logic. Nobody ever found Rukawa cute. He was th King of Cool and even had a song about his coolness, but not cute.

Sendoh sighed. He had to admit defeat. Mitsui was damn right; he liked Rukawa to the point it was cheesily unbearable to think about. But the boy was leaving—again—and there was nothing to be done.

For hopefully the last time, Sendoh replayed ten select memorable scenes with Rukawa. Memorable, meaning cheesy.

Learning to ride a bike from Rukawa and getting floored with his X-Games magic.

Eating ice cream at the mall.

Sharing fries.

Sneaking into Rukawa's house and watching him sleep.

Discovering Rukawa's sensitive ears.

Lending Rukawa clothes.

Hugging Rukawa in his sleep.

Letting Rukawa sleep on his leg, ouch.

Kissing Rukawa.

Kissing Rukawa part two, smirk.

Kissing Ru—wait, there's no part three. Maybe no more. Ever.

An evil Rukawa with dark eye makeup and black cape cackled in his head.

* * *

Tuesday. Seven in the morning. 

Point A. Rukawa Kaede locks the gate and makes for the bus station.

Point B. A disguised Mitsui Hisashi snatches and KO's Kogure Kiminobu right from Akagi T.'s side.

Point C. Sakuragi Hanamichi and Miyagi Ryota take a "shortcut" from Sakuragi's house.

Point D. Sendoh Akira makes a wrong turn on the way to school and takes the wrong bus.

Seven ten.

Point A. Rukawa wakes up at the wrong bus station. Falls asleep again.

Point B. Mitsui and the unconscious Kogure arrive at the north end of Rukawa's street.

Point C. Sakuragi and Miyagi "accidentally" arrive at the south end of Rukawa's street.

Point D. Sendoh gets off the (wrong) bus and finds himself some distance west of Rukawa's house.

Seven twelve.

Point A. Rukawa arrives at the train station.

Points, B, C and D intersect at Rukawa's house and find it locked.

"What are you doing here?" asked Sendoh, Mitsui, Miyagi and Sakuragi.

"Just passing by," answered Sendoh, Mitsui, Miyagi and Sakuragi.

"He's left," Mitsui said. Sendoh, Sakuragi, and he looked up and saw Superman but ignored him. He wasn't a plane anyway.

Miyagi finally realizes part of what's going on and groans, "Oh, man, not another Rukawa scheme!"

* * *

He was early. Early by twenty-eight minutes precisely. It was what people did when they were excited, but it was stupid. Because sooner or later, they get bored waiting. 

Rukawa was exactly that. Bored as hell, standing on the exact same spot (give or take 3mm either side) for what seemed like the longest time. So bored he wanted to stand at the very edge of the platform just because.

Two trains had already passed in either direction and his patience was wearing thin. The old lady with the disturbing pink bookbag who arrived three and a half minutes after he did immediately boarded the first train. So did the four high school girls stealing heart-shaped glances at him for the past four minutes. And the middle-aged businessman who licked his lips at the sight of Rukawa's crotch. And the little girl who gave him the finger. They've all gone, leaving Rukawa bored to death.

Oh, but wait! There WAS something he could do! Why didn't he think of it sooner? Sleep was always a good way to kill time. One could never be too tall. Plus, it was easy, easier than standing at the edge of the platform and trying to see if the train would squish him is he didn't step back in time.

His eyes were at half-mast when suddenly a train came roaring in at the other side. No problem. The beauty of sleeping was it was resumable.

OK, take two.

* * *

It was the stupidest idea they had, but in their panic they forgot how stupid it really was. By the time they realized it, they were already on the train, dragging the unconscious Kogure and the partly-unwilling Miyagi. 

"Who was the idiot who thought of checking all the stations for Rukawa anyway?" Miyagi asked, irritated.

All fingers pointed to Kogure on the floor with his glasses askew.

"Right."

Two, three, four stations...still no sign of Rukawa. They were all thinking that waiting at the airport was much, much less stupid. Miyagi clicked his tongue when they didn't find Rukawa at the fifth. "Shit, we're going to be late for school! I have an exam, you know!" Short as he was, Miyagi was still rather formidable when angered, and the other passengers inched away from him.

As the train rolled into the next station, Miyagi sighed and accidentally looked at the opposite platform, where he was a dark head, Shohoku jacket—

"Rukawa!"

FLASH! Into the rolling morning, five passengers ran out of the train, one of them unconscious.

* * *

Sendoh mentally made an oath to visit a temple later. 

They were running to catch the slimmest chance of facing Rukawa one last time. For Sendoh, to say what he needed to be said. For everyone else, to hear what he had to say.

In a blur, they were at the platform. Sendoh frantically searched for that all-too-familiar figure. _Come on, where are you?_

Kogure stirred a litte. Mitsui, who was half-carrying him, made no attempt to knock him out again. He placed Kogure on the floor and let him regain his senses. "Wha—huh?" Kogure uttered as he opened his eyes. He blinked once, twice, trying to figure out where he was.

"There!"

"Huh?"

And poor Kogure, still in the middle of becoming conscious, was again dragged. _What's going on?_ he thought, swirly-eyed.

Sendoh was running at the lead, the thoughts in his head were chaotic to say the least. There was only one clear thought there: get to Rukawa. He wasn't even aware of how violently he pushed the other people in his way. In Sendoh's version of Super Vision, there was only that tall figure near the edge of the platform. He could see the back of his head and the name of his school on the back of his jacket. He was ten feet from him...eight...six...five...four...

He stopped and stood right behind the boy he had been trying to catch. For a moment, he wondered what he was doing there. Behind him, he heard the footsteps of the Shohoku players stop; around them, the people had formed a semi-circle of spectators who did not know what exactly they were about to witness.

"Hey, Rukawa," Sendoh began. "You don't have to turn around. Just...just listen."

Mitsui's fingers crossed. Sakuragi's breath hitched. Miyagi considered asking Ayako to dinner. Kogure blinked. The semi-circle tightened.

"Just stay there," Sendoh said, heaving a deep breath. "Yeah, I want you to stay. It's unfair, the way you're leaving. I want to play basketball with you again. So don't go."

Rukawa moved slightly.

"But," Sendoh continued. Rukawa stood still. "That's not the only reason I want you to stay." The crowd drew even closer. "I don't want you to go because..."

Sendoh stepped forward and suddenly wrapped his arms around Rukawa. The crowd gasped.

"Because I like you, Ruka—EH?!"

"EH?!"

"EH?!"

"EH?!"

"EH?!"

"EH?!" x 35

Rukawa's head rolled backwards, landing on Sendoh's shoulder, revealing to all present his beautiful sleeping face complete with Z-snores floating lazily out of his mouth.

Before anyone could recover from the shock, Sakuragi was first to offer his help. ""TEMEEE KITSUNEEE!!!" was the battle cry before the coup de grace, a special helping of the Sakuragi Super Headbutt.

Rukawa's eyes flew open. "What the—?" He looked down at his chest and saw familiar arms around his torso. He blunked.

"You were sleeping all along?" Sendoh asked, slightly amazed, still holding Rukawa.

"What's going on? Let go, ahou," Rukawa said, struggling for freedom. Sendoh held fast

"No way," Sendoh said firmly, with a microscopic hint of pleading in his voice. "I'll pay back the cost of your plane ticket. I'm not gonna let you go to America—"

"Who said I was going to America?"

"Who said he was going to America?" the fully-conscious Kogure asked at the same time Rukawa did. He blinked. Mitsui, Miyagi, Sakuragi and Sendoh turned to him, Sendoh still with his arms around Rukawa. "He's just going to Okinawa."

"EH?!" cried Mitsui, Miyagi, Sakuragi and Sendoh. The crowd, still watching, echoed, "EH?!" x 35. Well, 34, since one went to the toilet.

"Just Okinawa?"

"Why the hell didn't you tell us sooner, Kogure?"

"Well, somebody had the great idea of keeping me unconscious," he said, throwing a meaningful glare at Mitsui, who avoided his eyes and whistled. "Anyway, I only found out this morning myself, when Akagi told me Rukawa's going to a freshmen training camp in Okinawa under Coach Anzai's friend. He'll be there for three weeks."

"Just three weeks?"

"Training camp for freshmen? Why wasn't I invited?"

"Do'ahou."

"GYAAAAHHH!"

"Just yesterday, you were all touchy-feely about Rukawa, Sakuragi."

"I was not!"

"Shit, you brought me here for nothing? I have an exam, dammit!"

"Shut up, Miyagi, there's something else we're here for."

All turned to Sendoh, who was so shocked he still refused to let go of Rukawa. "So.. you're not going to America."

"Not yet."

"You're coming back after three weeks?"

Rukawa nodded.

In his great joy anf relief, Sendoh turned Rukawa to face him and kissed him then and there, with the people watching. The crowd, led by the Shohoku boys, cheered and applauded.

Oh, but Rukawa, instincts kicking in, slapped Sendoh's forehead. "What was that for, you shit?"

Sendoh rubbed his forehead and smiled. "Well, you were sleeping while I was telling you I like you."

Rukawa froze. He stood there in disbelief, feeling something warm and fuzzy creep up his spine. He resisted the urge to pinch himself to check if this was some crazy dream or something. He felt the kiss, that's for sure.

Then came his great Hallelujah moment, and the choirs of angels broke into song.

"I like you very much even though you're a cold jerk or whatever Sakuragi thinks you are. I like you, Rukawa. Just as you are."

Wait, from what movie was that line again? Harry Potter? Lord of the Rings? "Bridget Jones's Diary!" someone from the crowd shouted. Oh yeah, that's the one. Cookie for you!

Then a train came in and Rukawa picked up his two bags. "Who says I like you too?" he snorted in his coldest voice. "Do'ahou."

The train doors opened. The crowd gave a universal groan. Sendoh looked utterly stunned and humiliated. Mitsui and Kogure did fish imitations. Only Sakuragi and Miyagi understood the feeling of rejection and the shook their heads.

Rukawa snorted. "Just playing," he said in the same monotone, holding up a peace sign with his face in the same blank expression.

The crowd cheered again. Sendoh's grin could span a whole basketball court. "So I'll see you when you get back."

"Hm," Rukawa answered, turning towards the train. "Bye," he said waving at them.

Sakuragi remembered something. "WAIT!" He ran towards Rukawa, taking a small wallet-sized photograph from his bag.

"What, are you gonna say you like me too? Too late."

"Shut up." Sakuragi handed the photo to Rukawa and grinned mischievously. "Something to remember Sendoh by, while you're training."

Rukawa could feel a blush starting. He looked at the picture; it was of Sendoh during the cookie task. He was wearing the absurdly pink tutu and was handing out a box of cookies to a kid. Somewhere to the right, he saw himself wearing a pastel version of the tutu, He was surrounded by girls, but Sakuragi had captured the brief moment he was stealing a glance at Sendoh.

He almost smiled, but a snort came instead. "Do'ahou."

"You're supposed to say 'Thank you', ingrate."

The whistle blew to signal the last call for passengers. Rukawa put the picture in his jacket pocket and waved for the last time. He stepped into the train, but turned around to face them. "Sendoh."

"Hm?"

"Me too."

Sendoh smiled. "I know."

Rukawa smirked as the doors closed.

* * *

EPILOGUE: ONE MONTH LATER 

This was the moment Akagi Haruko had been preparing for. That day, she decided to finally confess her feelings for Rukawa, who had returned from Okinawa one week ago. The speech she had covertly formulated in class instead of listening to the teacher was flawless; it was sure to melt Rukawa's heart.

She giggled at the thought.

She saw Rukawa at the school gate, his bike absent. He was so tall, and the way the setting sun lit his face made him more handsome than ever, like one of those knights in the English fairy tales. And she...she was a princess.

She giggled at the thought.

"Rukawa-kun!" she called. Rukawa turned and her heart skipped a beat. She ran towards him, a smile ready as always. "Hi!"

Rukawa snorted in acknowledgment.

Haruko blushed. She was actually standing beside the love of her life, alone, with the sunset as their background. Not that Rukawa knew it yet. Or did he? Anyway, she was about to tell him. "Anou...I have something to say." She fidgeted.

Rukawa watched her. She looked up at him from under her lashes. "The thing is, I—"

"Rukawa!"

Haruko, slightly put off, looked for the source of the voice. "Sendoh-san?"

Sendoh jogged towards Rukawa and Haruko. "Yo."

Rukawa snorted.

_What's Sendoh doing in Shohoku?_ Haruko wished he'd go away so she could resume her confession. Sendoh noticed her standing beside Rukawa. "Hello! You're Captain Akagi's sister, right?" He held out a hand. "Sendoh Akira, Ryonan."

Haruko shook the proffered hand and smiled politely. "Akagi Haruko. Nice to meet—" she stopped abruptly as she accidentally cast he gaze at Sendoh's other hand, and to her endless horror, found it holding Rukawa's!

_OH MY GOD._

She froze on the sopte, unable to move or speak. Sendoh was still smiling at her and Rukawa still had that stony expression on his face. _What's going on?_

Rukawa tugged at Sendoh's hand. "Let's go."

"Nice to meet you, Haruko-chan!"

She was still frozen as she watched them leave. Her vision zoomed in at the linked hands of the two. She felt her knees buckle and she fell to the ground. _Rukawa—Rukawa is—_

Suddenly, Sendoh playfully kissed Rukawa's cheek.

"IYAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

OWARI

P.S.

HARUKO: I have to get my revenge!

AUTHOR: Shut up. Write your own fic.

HARUKO: But you're the author! You're more talented!

AUTHOR: Flattery will get you nowhere. Get out of my sight before I kill you with my mighty keyboard with Korean characters, JUMBO! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I still get the last laugh.


End file.
